Magic Stars (Grey Wolf Book 1) (9 page)

“So that’s it?” Adams frowned.

“Kids,” Julie said. “They killed the kids, too. You don’t get the rock. You don’t get the power. You get to answer for the family.”

“This is what comes from sending idiots to do a job.” Adams sighed. “There are ten rules to delegation. The first one is pick the right people. Clearly, I picked the wrong people.”

Either he was obsessed with middle management or he was stalling. He had some sort of plan. Derek glanced at Julie. She looked back at him, her face unreadable. If she had seen any magic, she would’ve shook her head or nodded or given him some sign.

“You win.” Caleb raised his hands, backing off to the left. “I know who the two of you are. You’re the Grey Wolf, and you’re Kate Daniels’ little witchling. I’ve seen the two of you around. I thought the Hunter would take of the two of you, so I could do my thing, but clearly he didn’t. I give up. There’s the rock; go and get it.”

Neither of them moved.

“You do know what it does?” Caleb smiled. “The glowing star, falling from heavens at sunset on the last night of spring? A nightingale wasn’t singing—we don’t have them here—but a mockingbird was. It’s close enough. Normally they don’t break like that, but magic is still weak in the world. You should know this, little witchling. This is one all Slavs fear. Or did Evdokia not teach you yet?”

“Derek!” Julie cried out. “Run!”

The first ray of the rising sun broke free from the horizon. The glowing rock shone with brilliant, cold light, fusing into whole. The light shot up and coalesced into a woman.

He took a sharp breath.

She was beautiful. Her skin was flawless, her hair like gold, her eyes silver like starlight. She stood naked on the rock. He stared at her breasts, the rounded curves of her hips, the pale triangle of golden curls between her legs . . . So soft, so golden . . . He wanted to put his hands on her.

Her magic washed over him, and his body reshaped itself on its own, trying to match her humanity with his own. He went hard, and when she opened her mouth, her red lips like ripe fruit, and called him to her, his body wanted to obey.

Her voice was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.
“Beloved . . . Come to me . . .”

Images flickered in his mind. He saw himself over her, felt himself in her, saw her skin blush as her body clenched around him. . . . Her magic was too strong. He was tired and hurt, and the forced change drained him. He couldn’t fight it. He had to go to her. That was the best way. The right way.

“Derek!” Julie grabbed his arm. “No!”

He shrugged her off. He had to get to the woman. Fighting the flood of magic was pointless. It would only exhaust him more, and he was already weak.

“Derek!”

He shoved her back. She fell and he marched to the pillar.

“He’s lost,” Adams mocked. “He’s young and single. He can’t resist a letavitsa. That right there is unmatched power. A single one can empty a city of every man in it.”

“Derek!”

He heard her trying to run after him and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Adams pull a knife out and step into her path.

“You’ll die next,” Julie snarled.

“I took measures. I have protection. He doesn’t. The fallen star will feed on him and drain him dry. Now it’s just you and me.”

“Come closer. . . . Tell me you love me. Give yourself to me.”

He let the magic pull him forward. It was too strong to fight. He had to give himself to her. He was almost to the Pillar Rock.

Adams raised his hand. Foul magic spread from him, like dark ink. “Evdokia will just love this.”

“What the hell do you want with a letavitsa anyway?”

“Funny thing about gangs,” Caleb said. “Ninety percent of members are male between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Rabid with hormones and unlikely to form lasting attachments. A man would have to be willing to die for a woman to fight off the letavitsa’s magic. That kind of devotion is rare. Tomorrow night I’ll walk with her through the Warren, and that will be the end of my turf war.”

Derek jumped onto the pillar and began walking toward her. She waited, golden, warm, ready, her hair floating around her, her silver eyes glowing. . . . He could see Julie and Adams below them among the puddles.

“I’m the Herald,” Julie said. Her voice had an odd cadence. “I serve the Guardian of the City.”

“Well, your Guardian isn’t here.” The dark magic around Adams coalesced. Black serpentine shapes slid within it, stretching from him, each tipped with a skeletal dragon head armed with needle-sharp teeth.

“Her blood is my blood. Her power is my power.”

Adams halted. “Cute. Are you incanting, little one?”

“Look into my eyes and despair. For I’m Punishment, and you cannot escape me.”

The black smoke serpents streaked to her, their skeletal mouths opening wide, their smoke bodies billowing with black.

Magic punched from her, sweeping the smoke serpents aside. For a fraction of a second Adams froze, his face shocked.

Julie opened her mouth.
“Karsaran.”
The sound rocked her. She dropped to her knees.

An unseen power jerked Adams off his feet. His body froze, rigid. A sharp short tremor shook him with a loud sickening snap, as if every bone in the warlock’s body had broken. The body fell onto the ground.

Julie straightened, wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand, pulled out her tomahawk, and walked toward Adams, her mouth set in a hard line.

He saw Adams’ mouth gaping.

“He’ll still die,” the warlock squeezed out.

“Come, beloved. . . . Give me your love. I will make you whole.”

“I’m coming,” he said. He was almost to her, to that celestial pliant body, so soft, so eager for him. Ready. Willing.

Julie raised her tomahawk and chopped down.

The golden woman opened her arms. She was so beautiful, he wanted to weep. He wanted that body. To claim it, to feel her flesh under his fingers. . . . She smiled at him, and visions of her mouth swirled in his mind. He didn’t care that it was filled with sharp serrated teeth. He wanted to taste those red lips. The need was there, but it wasn’t coming from him.

She reached out and stroked his face with her fingertips. Her silver eyes shone. Her voice came in a shocked whisper.
“You belong to someone else.”

“Yes.” His body tore with the last of its strength. The wolf spilled out, and he shoved his clawed hand into her chest. His claws punctured her heart. He tore it out.

She screamed, shocked, her shark teeth bared. Her body burst into ash. For a moment, it held together, and then the wind swept it off the rock into the city.

He was so tired, he didn’t feel himself falling. He didn’t hear Julie scream.

WHEN HE OPENED HIS EYES, the sky was the soothing night blue again. A thin blanket covered him. He was warm and aching in a dozen places, the last granules of silver burning like dying coals inside him as his body slowly pushed them to the surface of his skin. His head rested on something that smelled like horse—probably a saddlebag. Around him, the city stretched, the rare golden lights of electric lamps glowing weakly from a distance. He was still on Pillar Rock.

He caught Julie’s scent. It swirled around him and he savored it. No blood. She wasn’t injured. They’d made it through.

“Finally,” Julie said.

He sat up, wrapping the blanket around him like a robe. She smiled at him.

“How long was I out?”

“The whole day.”

She had stayed with him. She hadn’t left and called for pickup; she’d just stayed here, where he’d fallen, and watched over him.

Julie dug in the bag. “I grabbed some food from the food cart passing by. It’s not deer babies, but you’ll just have to suffer through it.”

He reached out and touched her hand.

She paused and looked at him, her eyes bottomless.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For staying with me.”

“You’re welcome, Wolf,” she said quietly.

He realized then that she would’ve sat by him as long as it took and that he was still holding her hand. He made himself let go.

She looked away and pulled smoked venison and a jug of iced tea out of the bag. “Eat. You’re probably starving.”

“In a minute,” he said. “The moon is almost up.”

She put the bag down and lowered herself next to him. They sat quietly on Pillar Rock, side by side, almost touching and happy to be alive, and watched the moonrise.

EPILOGUE

“ANYTHING EXCITING HAPPEN while we were gone?” Kate cut the freshly baked bread in the kitchen.

“No.” That was one good thing about living on the street, Julie reflected. You learned to lie while your eyes shone with sincerity. “And you didn’t even mention my awesome timing. You came through the door, and there was bread already baked for you.”

Behind Kate, Curran glanced at her. He’d called Derek about the Iveses, so he knew, but Kate clearly didn’t. They would have to tell her, but not tonight. Tonight she was tired and hungry, and the look on her face when she came downstairs after she took a shower to wash all the blood off was too relaxed. Julie smiled at Curran.
It will wait.

“Thank you for the bread. You sure nothing happened?” Kate arched one eyebrow.

Julie remembered finishing off Adams, seeing Derek fall as he turned human again, and then running too fast up Pillar Rock. She’d dropped to her knees and put her head on his chest, and when she’d heard the strong, even heartbeat, she’d cried and then kissed his lips gently, because he was asleep and he would never know. He’d scared her so much.

Stupid wolf. Her stupid, stupid wolf.

Kate wouldn’t understand, and she didn’t need to know. “Nothing happened.”

“That’s odd. We dropped by the office on the way home and there is a check from Luther in the payment box. A large check.”

“I sold him a magic arrow,” she said. “It was very old. The arrowhead was stone. Ask him if you don’t believe me.”

Kate squinted at her.

It was time to beat a hasty retreat before more questions came. Julie headed for the kitchen door.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to give Peanut her nightly carrot.”

She stepped out and shut the door behind her. Escape accomplished.

The air was comfortably cool. An early evening had fallen, and the sky was a deep purple studded with stars. They winked at her as she walked.

Keep winking. As long as you stay up there, we won’t have a problem.

She opened the stable door, grabbed a carrot from the treat bag hanging from a hook, and walked to Peanut’s stall. The horse reached for the treat, and the soft velvety lips brushed her palm.

A presence appeared behind her. She felt it—a knot of arcane power, burning from within, like standing with her back to a stove, if heat were magic. That’s what old nuclear reactors must’ve been like. An unimaginable potential for destruction concentrated in one small space.

“You finally used your power,”
the immortal wizard said.

She didn’t turn around. “Yes.”

“How did it feel, Herald?”

The memory of power ripping from her in a torrent surfaced in her mind, followed by a spike of pain as she said the power word after her incantation had paved the way. She heard the sound of Adams’ bones breaking and patted Peanut’s nose.

“How did it feel?”

The Herald of Atlanta smiled. “It felt good.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people have helped make this novella a reality.  With gratitude we would like to thank

Nancy Yost, our agent, whom we continue to drive nuts and who was on board with this project even though it came out of the left field;

Deanna Hoak for the wonderful copyedit;

Doris Mantair for the amazing cover;

Shannon Daigle, Kristi DeCourcy, Kate Scheu, Toni Grasso, Robin L. Snyder, Chris Schanck, Jeanne L.D. Osnas, Hagar Michaeli, Julie Heckert, Hasna Saadani, Mindi Mymudes, Jessica Haluska, Ying Dallimore, Helen Gordon, and others for beta reading the manuscript;

Natanya Wheeler, for the formatting and upload and troubleshooting all things ebook;