Burned (A Magic Bullet Novel Book 1) (20 page)

T
he next evening
Farah made a valiant effort to cheer me up by summoning one of her favorite movies. We were near the end of
Steel Magnolias
when my phone buzzed. I pretended to wipe away a stray piece of hair as I deftly removed a tear from my cheek. What was wrong with me? I never cried, certainly not over a fictional character. It had to be prolonged exposure to my human body. That was the only reasonable explanation.

I glanced at the text. "It's from Mix," I said, my excitement rising. "He wants me to meet him at Dive." If memory served, Dive was a hipster bar in Northern Liberties.

"Finally! He's come to his senses," Farah said and elbowed me gently in the ribs. "See, it's not all bad news today."

I shook my head and tucked the phone into my back pocket. "He's right, though, Farah. I'm a coldhearted, terrible friend."

"Bullshit," she said. "That's in his own twisted head. Do yourself a favor and stop letting males fall in love with you. Causes too many problems."

"It wasn't love, Farah. Not really." I was simply a phase for Mix, a crush, and that was probably the reason our friendship survived. If it had been a deep, unrequited love, he never would've gotten over it.

"I'd come with you," she said, "but Rocco's picking me up in an hour."

"Ooh, Rocco again. The sex must be pretty good if you're going back for seconds."

She gave me a coy smile. "Let's just say he's more adventurous than he looks."

I did not want to travel down that mental road. "May the Force be with you."

"The size of his light saber might surprise you."

I held my hands over my ears and began to sing.

"I'm getting a shower," Farah yelled. "Say hi to Mix for me." She disappeared down the hall and I reread the text to make sure I was going to the right place. I didn't want to be late and risk pissing off Mix any more than I already had. My list of friends was shrinking by the day.

I
took
the Market-Frankford Line to Northern Liberties. The brick building was nondescript on the outside but oozed character on the inside. An exposed brick feature wall, hardwood floors and mismatched decor made it a favorite with the hipster crowd. Or at least it had been once upon a time.

The bar area was adjacent to the lobby so I headed there. No sign of Mix. In fact, no sign of many people at all, other than a hostess on her phone and a bored bartender. I guess Dive had taken a dive.

I shot off a quick text. Where are you?

Another text pinged. In the Bukowski Room.

Then I remembered. There was a private room in the back connected to the bar area. Apparently, Mix had money to spend with his IT earnings. But why was he meeting me here? If there were more people around, I'd think it was the tail end of a work function.

I pushed open the door. Mix and Paulette sat a small round table, sharing a bottle of wine.

"You invited me on your date?" I asked. "I would've thought you wanted to keep me away from your girlfriend. Otherwise I might damage her, right?"

I realized that the head I thought belonged to Mix was thinning on top. Mix had a full head of hair, courtesy of djinn powers.

The man turned around to face me. "Miss Winters, so good of you to come."

My mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Hugo?" I glanced to Paulette and back to Hugo again.

Paulette whispered a few words and I heard the click of a lock behind me. My pulse raced.

"Paulette, what's going on? Where's Mix?"

She refused to meet my gaze and I knew. Mix didn't send the text. My stomach dropped.

Hugo wiped his mouth with a linen napkin and smiled. "You, my dear, have fallen into our laps at the perfect time. It was as though the gods themselves had answered our prayers."

My eyes darted around the room, checking for escape options and potential weapons. I only had my daggers on me, not the Glock. If I didn't have these damn shackles, I would've blown a fireball straight out the back wall and walked over their charred corpses on the way out.

Hugo pushed back his chair and stood. "How about I show you our great achievement? I hate for you to die without knowing what your contribution will be. It wouldn't be fair."

He crossed the room and pulled a tarp to the floor. I gasped in horror at what was beneath it. Strapped to a table was a horrific creature, his body parts stitched together as if by hand. Despite a reasonably attractive head and ripped muscles, he was a patchwork quilt of butt ugliness.

"You're the murderer," I said, more to myself. I couldn't stop staring at the monster on the table. The legs were too long for the torso and the neck seemed too short. Even the skin colors didn't match.

I tore my gaze away and looked at Paulette. "How are you involved in this?"

The question was a mere formality. I already knew the answer. Paulette was more than a human with a Third Eye.

"I work for Hugo," she said.

"You're an unregistered mage," I said.

Her eyes met mine and I saw a hint of defiance in the angle of her chin. "Hugo is creating the ultimate weapon. He'll take over the colony with his creation, and I won't have to hide my magic anymore."

"When did you discover you had magic?" I asked. "Wait, let me guess. When you were older. Sixteen? Seventeen?"

Her expression darkened. "Twenty."

"Wow." I whistled. Magic manifestation past the age of eighteen was almost unheard of. "You really were a late bloomer." I inclined my head. "Why not tell Mix? You know what he is. Why lie?"

Paulette glanced at Hugo. "I was already working as Hugo's secretary when my magic manifested. He said it was too dangerous to tell anyone since the registration deadline had passed, so we agreed it would be our secret. He warned me all about unregistered mages."

I frowned. "Warned you that what? The Enclave would want you to register? What's the harm?"

"I missed the deadline. They would ban me from practicing magic," she said.

"It's on a case-by-case basis," I said. "Your magic bloomed late. They wouldn't hold it against you."

"But then I'd be subject to their control," Paulette said hotly. "I'd have to answer to them."

"And you don't answer to anyone now?" I challenged her. "It seems to me you're already under someone's control. At least the Enclave could help you hone your skills. You're one of them. They'd protect you."

To be fair, I understood her concerns. I wasn't a fan of being watched and assessed and I didn't trust large, organized groups. I was a lone djinni and generally liked it that way.

"Hugo's been helping me," Paulette said.

"Using you, more like."

Paulette's cheeks flamed. "Hugo and I are a team. We have a plan."

"Once we successfully breathe life into George," Hugo began, "he will serve only me. Answer to my commands. He will be unstoppable."

"You named your ultimate weapon George?" I queried. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. "And how do you propose to animate your Frankencorpse here? Wait for a bolt of lightning? I hate to break it to you, but the sky is clear. I even saw The Big Dipper on the way here and I never notice that stuff."

The smile quickly faded from my lips. Suddenly I understood why I'd been lured to this room and it wasn't because they needed an audience. An icy chill spread through my veins.

"Look Paulette, she's finally caught up," Hugo said, noticing my expression. "That's right, Miss Winters. You are the key to unlocking our secret weapon." He bowed deferentially to Paulette. "It was my lovely assistant's idea. It seems she doesn't like you very much. Something about getting in the way of a boyfriend."

"I'm not in the way," I told Paulette. Given the fact that he wasn't speaking to me, I couldn't be more out of the way. "Mix loves you."

"He's been different since you've come back to town," Paulette said, her tone thick with accusation. "Moodier. He even snapped at me over watching my house hunting shows. He never minded before."

"Mix and I are friends. Period. Full stop. End of story."

"Still, I don't like what your presence has done to our relationship. And your death solves a problem for both of us," Paulette said with a mild shrug. How did I ever think she was cute? She had a face like a llama. What did Mix see in her?

"And you think Mix is going to be happy with you when he finds out you murdered one of his best friends?" I asked. "He'll dump you faster than you can say 'backstabbing bitch'. Hell, he may even kill you."

"How will he find out?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. "You won't be talking because you'll be dead."

"Is that why you own a semiautomatic with copper bullets?"

Paulette smiled and reached into her handbag on the floor. "You mean this?" She withdrew the semiautomatic and placed it on the table in front of her.

Well, at least I knew where it was now. "Why have a gun if you're planning on killing me with magic?"

"Magic is only one part of the equation," she said primly.

"The gun is for defense," Hugo added. "For the final death, we have something very special." He looked directly in my eyes and smirked. "And perhaps familiar."

He produced an object from his satchel and I sucked in a breath. O'Leary's scian heirloom. That lying scumbag had it all along. He must've swiped it the day O'Leary showed it off to his mobster colleagues. That special dagger forged from copper and cold iron, specifically designed by O'Leary's ancestors to kill djinn. To kill me.

I shivered.

He handed the blade to Paulette and she continued to chant as she accepted the weapon, her palms raised and flat. This was why the heirloom was stolen. The blade had probably been soaked in enough djinn blood over the centuries to retain some of its victims' powers. And now they intended to use it to kill me and merge my magic with the others'. Despite the clear and present danger, I had to admit -- there was a certain poetry to it.

"And you think my great and powerful soul will infuse this room and you'll gather it all up." A harvesting spell so they can raise the dead. Fabulous.

"I certainly hope it's as simple as you make it sound," Hugo said, rubbing his hands together. "I could do with a good night's sleep. All these late nights don't fit with my usual schedule."

"What about these?" I asked, holding up the copper cuffs for examination. "What if they prevent the nuclear explosion you're banking on?"

Hugo shrugged. "Then you'll simply be dead and we'll find another djinni. We'd prefer a Marid, of course, because yours is the most powerful caste, but any djinni will do."

"The spell will work," Paulette said, with an air of confidence I hadn't seen in her before. "Djinni magic flows through your veins. The cuffs don't change that fact. They only serve as a muzzle."

So my djinni soul was more useful dead than alive. It figured.

"Hand over your phone, please," Hugo said. "We don't need you making any calls for help."

I removed my phone from my pocket. "I was leaning more toward a selfie with your friend here." I nodded toward the carefully constructed corpse.

Hugo looked calmly at Paulette. "Take the phone."

She held out her hand and uttered an incantation. Then I heard her say, "To me."

The phone flew from my hand to her outstretched one. I was not expecting that.

"That was a present from Mix," I said. "He'll be pissed if you break it."

She set the phone on the table next to the gun. Oh, that gun was so close yet so far.

The only weapons on my person were the jade daggers strapped to my calves. With Hugo and Paulette watching my every move, I'd never unsheathe them in time. Then again, I only needed to kill Paulette. Without his mage, Hugo was useless. Without the carefully constructed corpse, however, their whole plan was a wash.

"Why the body puzzle?" I asked. "Why not use a single intact Naphil?"

"I'm testing a theory," Hugo said. "Each contributor possessed his own unique magic. The humans were accidents and the parts discarded."

"Contributor?" I queried. That was an interesting way of looking at it.

Hugo glared at me. "If we blend all their magic together and then infuse George with all the djinn magic absorbed by the scian, I'll have created the ultimate weapon."

"You're insane," I said. Insanely smart. His plan could work. George would have the strength and skill of a Naphil and a djinni. And Hugo would be his master. If Hugo then managed to kill enough Nephilim and djinn to make an army of Georges, he'd be unstoppable. I couldn't let that happen.

I lunged for the table.

"Kill her," Hugo cried.

"I can't yet," Paulette said, wringing her hands. "The spell isn't ready."

He scowled at her. "Then get it ready. Now."

I took refuge behind Frankencorpse. Paulette must have already worked a little magic on their creation because there was no rotting flesh smell.

Crouched behind the table, I slid my jade daggers out from their hiding spots as Paulette began to chant.

"What's going on?" I heard a familiar voice say and my heart stopped. No, no, no. How did he know to come here?

I peeked out from behind the corpse. My worst fear was confirmed. Mix was here.

"
T
ake him
," Hugo demanded.

I watched Paulette's expression shift from anger to fear. She cared for him, that much was clear. It didn't change the fact that I was going to kill her as soon as I could get my hands around her llama neck.

"Mix, shift," I yelled. "Get out now!"

Mix blinked, scanning the room for me. "Alyse?"

"Dammit, Mix!"

Too late. Hugo whipped out a gleaming metal choker from his satchel of torture and snapped it around Mix's neck. Made from cold iron, no doubt. These two were more prepared than a troop of Boy Scouts.

Mix dropped to the ground, clutching at the choker and writhing in pain.

"Stop," Paulette pleaded. She grabbed Hugo's arm. "Please. He's not part of this."

Hugo glanced at me and flashed a triumphant smile. "He is now. Unless she comes out, we'll kill her friend instead. Either way, she ends up dead."

"He's a Jann," Paulette objected. "We agreed to use a Marid."

Hugo shrugged. "True. He's not as powerful, but, as I said, any djinni will do."

Paulette moved to comfort Mix, who was on the floor, his body curled into a ball. I shuddered, reminded of my own pain under the copper net in Monaco. I could only imagine how much pain I would've endured had I been conscious when the cuffs were put on. Small mercies.

I couldn't watch Mix suffer like this. Brandishing my dagger above Hugo's beloved monster, I said, "Let him go or I will rip Humpty Dumpty into so many pieces you will
never
be able to put him back together again."

Hugo's jaw tightened. "Then I will simply create another one. It won't be easy, but nothing worthwhile is." He inclined his head toward Paulette. "Her magic is powerful enough to hold you both prisoner until we've accomplished our goal."

Cuffs or no cuffs, I was not going to let that happen.

Mix grunted in agony as he twisted his neck to look at Paulette. "Magic?" he whispered. "What does he mean?"

"She's an unregistered mage," I called from my safe place. "She and Hugo are behind the murders."

Mix fought to sit up. "I don't understand."

Paulette gripped his arm. "I never meant for you to get involved. Why are you here?"

"Called Farah..." His voice was weak. "I went by to apologize...No one was there."

He must've been confused to learn that I was meeting him here.

"She's Hugo's secretary," I said. "They have a stupid plan for world domination. Tell him the truth, Paulette. You owe him that much."

Paulette's eyes narrowed. "It isn't a stupid plan. Hugo has outsmarted everyone. The Dragon will take notice now."

So Hugo wanted the Dragon's attention. A supernatural zombie warrior would do the trick. I wondered whether that was the real reason he left Vito's group and moved into accounting. I had the sense that Vito ran his gang with a much tighter fist than O'Leary.

Hugo advanced toward Mix but one menacing look from Paulette stopped him in his tracks.

"Paulette took your phone and sent me a text," I told Mix. "She told me to meet you here. I thought you were calling a truce after our fight."

Mix groaned as the poisonous properties of the cold iron settled into his blood. "Why Alyse?"

"Only a djinni's soul is powerful enough to raise the dead," Hugo said. "Paulette thought that your friend's soul was perfect for the job. She's extremely powerful and yet, with her cuffs, extremely vulnerable. An ideal combination for our purposes."

I flung one of the daggers across the room, aiming for Hugo's throat. I'd show him how vulnerable I was. With Paulette's focus on Mix, I banked on the fact she wouldn't react quickly enough to deflect the blade.

I was right about Paulette, but not about my aim. Hugo moved just fast enough. The blade sliced the side of his neck, missing the carotid artery I'd intended to hit. The dagger skidded across the floor.

Dammit. One dagger left. I really had to start carrying more weapons while I was cuffed. The odds were stacked against me and I was down to a single dagger.

Hugo clutched his throat where the dagger had pierced his skin. A trickle of blood flowed down his shirt.

"Try that again and Paulette will snap your friend's neck," he warned me.

"She'd have to take off his choker first," I said. And that would give him time to shift, if he had the strength.

I ducked back behind the table, struggling to come up with a game plan. What was the point of training with Flynn if I couldn't get Mix and I out of jam like this? Hugo was only human and Paulette was a toddler mage, yet here I was, cowering behind a corpse while Mix was about to have his neck broken. Even though I was still me, I was not a fan of this new version. Alyse Lite sucked.

"Get the scian and finish the spell, Paulette," Hugo ordered. "Our destinies await."

Paulette looked from Hugo to Mix. Tears glistened in her eyes. "I won't kill him," she said. Her voice was so quiet that I barely heard her.

"Then move him aside and focus on the other one." I could see from his tense posture that Hugo was losing patience. Paulette had followed his orders for years, as his secretary and his secret mage. Her small show of defiance wouldn't sit well.

"Mix doesn't deserve this," I called from behind the table. "He's a good soul, no matter what form it's in."

Paulette stroked his head as his body twitched and jerked.

"You need to take off the collar," I said. "He's in horrible pain, Paulette. Is that what you want?"

"No," Paulette whispered.

"Help," Mix said softly.

With a quiet word from Paulette, the collar sprang open and clattered to the floor.

"Paulette, no," Hugo snapped.

I don't know how he managed it in his weakened condition, but Mix didn't waste any time. His human body disappeared. His djinn form remained on the floor, gathering strength.

"Where did he go?" Hugo yelled. The vein in his forehead throbbed angrily.

It was a smart move. Hugo didn't have a Third Eye so he couldn't see a djinni in his natural form, unless the djinni chose to be seen.

Which meant Paulette could see him.

I watched her expression shift from fear and anxiety to something else. Her head swiveled as she searched the room, pretending not to see him.

"He's turned invisible," she said. "I think he's gone."

Hugo's shoulders relaxed slightly. "So much for loyalty," he sneered at me. "Let's get on with the show."

The second he turned his back on them, I knew he didn't have a prayer. Mix shifted again, his djinni form solidifying into something terrifying. A white tiger. Not the slinky felines featured in a Las Vegas performance -- his big cat was designed for death. The saber-style teeth and muscular body launched itself at Hugo, forcing him to the floor. The ideal ambush predator. As his elongated canines sank into Hugo's flesh, Paulette moved swiftly out of harm's way.

Hugo thrashed and screamed as Mix tore him apart. I came out from behind the table, ready to talk Mix down from his heightened state if he needed it. As I approached, the tiger's powerful jaw opened, wider than I would have thought possible, and crunched down on Hugo's head. The image was tough to stomach, even for me. I peered over at Paulette to see how she was handling the introduction to her boyfriend's dark side. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be chanting quietly. Or maybe she was praying.

The tiger craned his neck, blood dripping from his mouth. He looked at Paulette.

"Mix," I said gently.

Paulette's eyes opened as the tiger inched toward her. His movements were precise, like a predator stalking its prey.

"To me," Paulette cried out and the semiautomatic flew from the table into her waiting hand.

"Paulette, don't," I said. I dared not move too quickly and cause a chain reaction.

Her hand shook as she held the gun in line with the tiger's face. Three feet separated them. I had no clue what was running through Mix's head right now, but I knew this much -- he'd never forgive himself if he killed her. I couldn't let him do it.

"Mix," I said again. Cautiously I walked in an arch so that I approached him from the side rather than from behind him.

I heard a low growl. It wasn't directed at me.

"Paulette, talk to him," I urged.

"Jeremy, I'm sorry," she said. Tears slid down her cheeks. "I never would have let Hugo hurt you."

Mix took another step forward and the growl deepened.

"I'm sorry about Alyse, too," she said. Her hand shook harder and I worried that she'd accidentally shoot him. "This whole thing was a giant mistake. I never felt right about killing, but Hugo convinced me..." She trailed off, choking on her sobs. "He was like the father I never had."

Her djinni father must have abandoned her at birth, leaving her vulnerable to a controlling man like Hugo. She probably didn't even know her father was a djinni until her magic manifested. It must've been a difficult path for her to navigate all alone.

"Mix, shift," I said. "I know you don't want to hurt her, and she doesn't want to hurt you. Please."

The white tiger dissolved into a beam of blinding light and was gone. I wasn't sure if he'd gone home to lick his wounds or maybe to Farah for help. Wherever he went, I knew he was suffering.

I was alone with Paulette and two gross corpses.

Her hand dropped to her side and the gun slid onto the floor. She buried her face in her hands.

"What were you chanting earlier?" I asked. "When Mix was attacking Hugo."

"A cloaking spell," she mumbled. "I blocked the sights and sounds. I didn't want anyone outside of the room to hear what was happening."

"You're a really talented mage, Paulette. It's a shame." It really was. I hated to see wasted talent.

She nodded mutely.

I collected my stray dagger and sheathed them both. Then I took my phone off the table where Hugo had left it and dialed.

"What are you going to do with me?" she sniffed.

"I'll let Detective Thompson decide that," I said. "I'm not an agent anymore." Truthfully, I didn't know what I was.

I heard Thompson's voice on the other end.

"I need you to meet me at a bar called Dive," I told her. "I have your murderer and your mage. One of them is in pieces. I'll let you figure out which one when you get here."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yep, bring a cleaning crew. You're going to need it."