Influential Magic (22 page)

I froze and studied the guard in front of me. She wore the standard uniform of polyester pants and a crisp, white button-down shirt. Combined with the mousy brown hair and nondescript wire-rim glasses, I never would have recognized her had she not spoken. “Phoebe?”

“Yes, damn it. Hurry up before they find us.”

I scrambled to my feet and waited as Phoebe scanned the hall. “Why were you stalking me?” I asked her in a hushed tone.

“I had to be sure it was you. Now shush and follow my lead. We can’t afford to have you mess this up again.”

“Mess up? Again?”

“Shhh.” She grabbed my arm and marched me back down the hallway toward the basement door. When she spoke, her voice was deeper and tinged with maniacal glee. “One more stunt like that, and we’ll be forced to use the manacles.”

She grinned at me and kept up the illusion of dragging me along as we passed another guard, one I didn’t recognize.

“Looks like you could use some help.” He fell in step with us.

Phoebe glared. “Are you insinuating I can’t do my job? Just because Phelps is an idiot and lost her doesn’t mean I need someone breathing down my neck. Get back to your post. This one isn’t going anywhere.” Phoebe yanked my other arm, closing them behind my back as she propelled me forward.

“Watch it!” I complained loudly.

“Shut up. You’re lucky I’m letting you walk under your own power.” Phoebe yanked me back, and pain shot through my shoulder. If I hadn’t known better, I’d swear she was enjoying the act.

A trickle of doubt ran through my mind. Was Phoebe really on my side? She hadn’t said a word or tried to stop the guards from dragging me from Maude’s office.

Stop it! Of course she’s on my side. Why else is she disguised as a guard?

Phoebe was the one person I could trust besides Talisen. Whatever had happened earlier, she had obviously thought it was the best plan.

“Calm down,” the other guard said. “I’m not insinuating anything. Just thought you might want some backup.”

“I’ve got plenty of backup right here.” She tapped a tranquilizer gun on her hip. “Now get lost before I use it on you.”

“What the hell? Are you threatening me?”

“Damn straight. I don’t know you…” She peered at his name tag. “Fitz. All our asses are on the line with this one. High priority with the director, and I’m not taking any chances. So either you back off, or I’ll put you out. Your choice.”

“Fine.” Fitz held his hands up in surrender. As he retreated, he mumbled, “That witch needs professional help.”

I stifled a bubble of laughter, not daring to look at Phoebe. A moment later, Fitz disappeared around the corner.

“Come on.” Phoebe broke into a run, forcing me to use my wings to keep up.

“Where are we going?”

“Out.” Phoebe took a sharp turn and stopped in front of an emergency exit. She held me back, keeping me from bursting through. “I need to silence the alarm first. We stand no chance if it goes off.”

At least one of us knew what to do.

Phoebe produced a small bag from her pocket and pulled out a pinch of gray powder. Sprinkling it over a sensor, she chanted an incantation, waited a few seconds, then blew the dust away. A faint sizzle ran down the wire and ended with a pop.

“How did you do that without your magic?” It should be neutralized.

“Guards aren’t stripped of their magic.”

Right. They would need it.

“Now go!” she said and pushed me out first.

A blast of thick humidity hit me in the face, the stark contrast to the stale air-conditioning making it hard to breathe. I sucked the air down, trying to acclimate as I scanned the parking garage.

Phoebe bolted through the door right behind me. “What are you doing? Move it.”

“I don’t know where the car is,” I snapped, running to catch up.

“No car. They’re watching me. Someone is waiting a few blocks over.” A few feet from the exit, Phoebe pulled up short, holding her hand out in a stop motion.

I froze mid-step and almost knocked her down. “What is it?”

“Look at what we have here, boys,” Fitz said. “Nice try, Kilsen. You almost had me going there for a minute.”

The guard Phoebe had threatened was flanked by four other guards.

Phoebe stepped forward. “You think you and your wannabe agents can take me?”

He laughed. “It’s five to one unless you count the faery, but she’s useless and you know it.”

“Hey!” I cried, insulted, and peered around as my skin started to tingle. Someone else was coming.

“That just goes to show how stupid you are. I suggest you and your cronies step aside and forget you ever saw me, or you’ll regret it,” Phoebe said.

Fitz signaled and the guard clones spread out, blocking our path.

Phoebe pulled out her tranquilizer gun. “Last warning.”

Fitz’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not loaded. Besides, you can’t hit all of us at once.”

“I don’t have to.” Phoebe nodded past them. The one on the far right turned and gasped. No less than a dozen vampires stood behind them with David and Eadric at the center. All five guards brandished their sun agates, aiming them at the vampire gang.

“Oh, good. You’ve made it,” another voice called from behind us.

I whipped around and stared at Maude dressed all in black, emerging from a shadow.

What? She’d been expecting them. This couldn’t be happening.

“Tell your goons to back off,” Eadric said.

Maude quirked an eyebrow but waved a dismissive hand toward the guards. “Stand down.”

One by one, they each moved to stand behind my aunt. Eadric sent her an indulgent smile. “Thank you. We’ve got it from here.”

“Don’t rough her up too much, Eadric,” she warned. “We still need to finish our testing. But as a consolation, Kilsen is all yours. She was just a tool and of no consequence.”

Phoebe turned, her face pinched in anger. “You set me up?”

Maude laughed. “Don’t be a fool. Did you really think it would be so easy to penetrate my security? When it comes to my niece, you’ve never been trustworthy. Now I have my proof.” She waved to Eadric. “Get rid of her.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Eadric said. “Ms. Rhoswen, will you join me?”

I took a step back, met Phoebe’s eyes, then David’s, and finally turned to Eadric. “Why would I do that?”

“I’m asking you to accept my protection.”

Dread snaked its way through my limbs. I’d already accepted his protection, but now he was forcing me to acknowledge it publicly. Everyone would know he considered me one of his own.

My worst nightmares stood both in front of and behind me.

I gulped. “From what?”

“Not what, but whom.” He gestured to Maude.

“What do you think you’re doing, vampire?” In an instant, Maude hovered right behind me, her powerful black wings working up a wind. “I demand you live up to our agreement and apprehend these traitors.”

Eadric barely glanced at her. “Change of plans, Maude. You lose this round.”

“You were working with the director?” Phoebe shouted and rounded on David. “Goddamn you. I knew I couldn’t trust a blood-sucker. You were going to give us up? Fuck!”

He gave a small shake of his head as he kept his eyes trained on me.

“They’ve been playing both sides the whole time.” I met David’s gaze. “Haven’t you?”

He ran a nervous hand through his hair. “You don’t understand.”

“He’s only done what he thought best. Do not blame him.” Eadric moved toward me, his hand stretched out.

Maude hissed and grabbed my arms, dragging me back. “She’s mine. Of my own blood. You will not take her from me.”

I grunted and tried to twist from her grasp. She clutched tighter, digging her fingers into my flesh. “Let go, you evil bitch!” I cried, jamming my elbow into her gut.

She only grasped me tighter. Damn it if I wasn’t tired of being manhandled.

Eadric took a step. “You don’t want to test me, Director.”

A warm trickle of power brushed my skin as my aunt started to spin a spell. I struggled, trying to escape her grip. “No!”

Maude levitated, pulling me above the crowd with her. Something cold and dark prickled as Maude’s power intensified. I gasped, a chill turning my limbs numb. Whatever spell she was spinning, was bad. Probably life-ending bad.

The vampires swarmed and then scattered as flashes of light illuminated from the guard’s sun agates. Only Phoebe and David remained.

Maude chanted something in Latin. Panic took over. If someone didn’t do something soon, Maude would kill them all. “Phoebe!”

Her eyes narrowed as determination settled on her features.

My muscles started to seize as the chant grew louder. Phoebe’s mouth was working, but I couldn’t hear her. Unwilling to go without a fight, I did the only thing I knew to do. I opened myself up and took in Maude’s spell.

My entire body convulsed, fighting the curse. I briefly wondered if my plants suffered as much when I stole their life before I rejuvenated them.

The thought triggered an idea. I tensed as I reversed the energy and forced Maude’s magic back into her.

She jerked her hands away, sending me falling to the ground. If I hadn’t been focused on releasing something dark and painful, I might have remembered to flex my wings. Instead, I landed on one of the guards, arms and legs flailing. Rolling off, I huddled near a car, trying to make sense of the scene in front of me.

The vampire gang reappeared, quickly neutralizing the remaining guards. My aunt swayed above me, struggling to keep airborne. Her body dipped and, her face tight with concentration, she flexed her wings, stabilizing herself. She glanced down at me, hatred in her black eyes. “This is far from over.”

Before I could respond, she sailed out of the garage and disappeared around the corner. Phoebe took off at a dead run after her.

“Willow?” David said.

“Huh?”

He wrapped me in his arms and pulled me into a hug, resting his chin on my head. “Are you okay?”

I stiffened and looked up. “Your touch doesn’t hurt anymore.”

The aged water oak’s limbs created a cocoon around me and an illusion of safety from the vampires within the large Victorian mansion. My wrecked body soaked in the tree’s cool life force, slowly healing itself.

I’d been too drained to worry about where David was taking me after we’d left the Arcane parking lot. To his credit, he bypassed the house and led me straight to the majestic oak in the gardens. He hovered awkwardly until I shooed him away, then he disappeared. I hadn’t seen anyone since. Not even Phoebe, though I knew she had to be here somewhere.

They were probably all inside, discussing some new plan they had no intention of sharing. For days they’d been keeping me out of the loop. Phoebe had started investigating my case without telling me and even gone so far as to work with David to get information out of Clea. Hell, together they’d worked a spell on her. And who knew what David was up to? This was my life on the line. I’d been the one threatened. Not them. The least they could do was tell me what in God’s name was going on.

Forget them. All I wanted was Link, Talisen, and a hot bath. And maybe a little Chimney Bark. If there ever was a situation for a little indulgence, this was it.

Anything to stop the confusion swirling in my mind. David’s touch didn’t hurt anymore. A warm sensation, something eerily close to hope, blossomed in my chest.

Stop it. You’re not in high school.
And I was mad at him right?

I squashed the traitorous desire. David was not mine. Not anymore, and he never could be. Fae did not get involved with vampires. Ever. I didn’t even know if this new development would last. Maybe Nathan’s bite had left me with a short-term immunity. Was that possible? No one could answer that question. I was the only faery I knew affected with the insane vampire curse.

A door slammed shut, and a moment later Phoebe appeared across the garden. Her wig was gone, revealing her spiky, black, one hundred percent Phoebe hairdo.