Undercover Magic (14 page)

I mentally braced myself for the duration, determined for that winner to be me. I
would do whatever it took to stop Navarro forever.

Even if it killed me.

*  *  *

Through the pounding in his head, Cooper struggled to focus on the blur of the battle
raging on the upper walkway. Below him, the vampire guards stationed by the factory
entrances broke from their posts to rush up the stairs.

His wrists and ankles were pure agony as if demons gnawed at his skin and bone with
fiery, razor-sharp teeth. The stakes in his bullet wounds felt like they were dissolving
his muscles centimeter by centimeter.

Sweat broke out across his back and chest and his stomach rebelled, rolling acid up
into his throat. His mind dodged away from the pain in his body as he struggled to
control his instinctive horror of and shock. Though maybe if he choked on his own
puke he'd at least succeed in spoiling Navarro's fun.

Cooper resisted looking at his wrists and focused instead on the chains suspending
him from thick eye hooks bolted into the ceiling. He didn't need to look. He knew
what he'd see—his boiled and bloodied flesh where the shackles were clamped.

Shackles that hadn't been made for a hundred years.

Humans thought silver caused this kind of reaction. His kind had let them believe
it. The myth had allowed Weres their peace. Humans who thought they had control over
their lives tended to be passive and didn't go looking for trouble. 

The truth was, silver in its purest form was sacred to his kind, an earthly representation
of the moon and the goddess who protected them. But it also blended well with other
metals and made the perfect agent for moonseed powder. In the right quantity, the
herb was deadly to shifters. Worse, when combined with the right metal composite and
other ingredients, it never lost its strength.

Navarro had put a lot of effort into planning for this.

Cooper's anger erupted, pushing against the fear and despair clawing at him. He grit
his teeth and fought to reach the place inside himself where his life force pulsed.
He felt it hovering just out of reach and rushed to grab hold of its promise. The
effort was like trying to grab a fistful of water. Impossible.

The hunger for freedom maddened him and Cooper jerked against the chains, bucking
wildly. Pain shredded his body and the edges of his vision darkened. Panting against
the torment and the unconsciousness it brought, he twisted his torso, attempting to
dislodge the spike from his leg and side. If he could at least stop whatever black
magic the Archon wove, it would be enough, but the spikes had been driven in too deep.

Exhausted, he went limp. All he'd accomplished was to accelerate the flow of his blood
into the murky vortex below. He stared down at the grotesque shapes of the young practitioners
swaying and spinning to the flow of their emotionless chant.

One child in the circle looked up at him, the aristocratic features of her dark face
nearly invisible in the shadows of the hood covering her head. The clarity and purpose
in her brown eyes surprised him. When she glanced around as the guards scampered off,
alarm tightened in his chest. This child could not be planning to rescue him.

She lifted a finger to her lips as if telling him to stay quiet, and gave him an encouraging
nod. He shook his head. She needed to get herself out. He would not have her death
on his conscience when he berated his last.

The girl gave him a quick smile, and then to his astonishment, faded away like a ghost.

He couldn't decide whether he felt relief or despair. On the bright side, the child
wasn't real. The bad news was blood loss and exposure to the poison were causing him
to hallucinate which mean he was dying.

A cold emptiness filled his chest.

He had failed.

*  *  *

I moved toward Navarro, the walkway shuddering with each step. I had him trapped against
a stack of crates and exhilaration burned through my heart and mind. My nostrils flared,
the smell of blood from the gash across his chest sweet and enticing as I pulled it
in and swallowed it down. 

I lunged.

The explosion of gunfire lit up the world behind me and the stinging hail of bullets
hit my back. Furious, I spun toward this new threat. A handful of guards raced down
the walkway toward me, firing their rifles as they came.

Bullets hit the layers of scales covering my body and bounced off, ricochetting wildly.
A stray hit slammed the closest vampire in the forehead and he dropped like a stone.
The rest dove for cover. They were nothing. Weak. My kill was safe from them.

I turned back in time to see my prize diving for the railing. I slashed at him with
my claws and swept my tail high. He dove and rolled beneath the blow, crashing through
the railing and plunging over the side.

The guards sprang from their hiding places and swarmed over me. A cold, mindless fury
exploded deep inside me, drowning, lifting. The world shattered and reformed with
focused clarity—kill, destroy, survive, triumph.

Euphoria flooded my body and I surged up through my attackers, ripping and biting.
A wild, feral heat scorched my soul, pure and joyous in its simplicity. Blood and
gore flew out around me and my heart soared with joy. My enemies would die and I would
feast. 

A furtive movement caught my attention and I spun toward it. Two creatures crawling
away. Hate thundered into me and I sprang at them. With satisfaction I crushed the
first one with my tail and sank my claws into the legs of the other.

His high-pitched screams buzzed along my nervous system as I pulled him toward me,
exciting me, pushing me higher and higher. He had denied me my prey and he would take
its place.

I dug into his shoulder and lifted him above me. He bit into my hands and arms frantically,
but his fangs couldn't penetrate my scales. With a powerful yank, I tore him in half.
The hot, sweet smell of it thrilled me.

"Addison!"

I paused at the strange word while the need to feast rushed through me like an avalanche.

"Addison, look at me!"

Annoyed, I turned toward the noise. A creature, a man, hung from chains in the air.
A distant yet familiar warmth touched the center of my chest as his silver-green eyes
locked with mine.

"This is not who you are!" the man shouted. The words bit into me. I knew him. He
wasn't prey or enemy. He was...

Below him a strange oily sound rose, gaining strength as it crested over us. The edges
of it vibrated along my skin cold and evil and I hissed. The man's gaze broke from
mine and he writhed on his chains, pain scraping his features into a knotted, tortured
mask. Blood pumped from his wounds into the vortex below, turning it black.

"Addison," he groaned.

Sorrow and regret hit me, fracturing the primitive frenzy that had overtaken me.

"Cooper?" I looked around, bewildered. Crates and railings were smashed, torn bloodied
body parts littered the floor, and in my clawed hands...

Horror exploded through me. I dropped the dead vampire and backed away. Oh my God.

I remembered. I knew what I'd been about to do. Acid boiled into my throat and I gagged.

My gaze shot to Cooper. And he was bleeding out as his body twisted with pain. I was
going to lose him! I opened my wings.

"No, Addie," he groaned, making a sluggish effort against his shackles. "No time..."

I launched off the upper level platform, flapping furiously. Dipping from side to
side and galloping up and down like some monstrous roller coaster, I managed to get
clumsily airborne. I gave an experimental swish of my tail, hoping it would act as
a rudder and slammed my face into the wall. Pushing off with my arms, I slowed my
wings to a more rhythmic pace and with a controlled effort angled my tail the other
way.

Not great, but better. A few more adjustments and I headed for Cooper.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I hovered in the air next to Cooper and studied the chains and shackles binding him.
He opened his eyes and looked at me blearily. My heart buckled and I tried not to
notice how pale he was. 

"Can't you ever...do what I tell you?" he said, his voice thin and tired.

I would not lose him. Not to a bastard like Navarro. Not to anybody.

I chomped down on one of the chains. Pain and a sickening bitterness cut into my mouth
and tongue. I bolted back, instinctively shaking my head as I pawed at my tongue to
get the taste off.

"Treated with moonseed and...witch blood," Cooper said. "Stop Navarro."

I shook my head and locked my gaze with his. My heart swelled with a sweet promise
I'd been too stupid to know was there.

I struggled to make my dragon-dinosaur snout form words. "Wuv...ooo," I garbled out.

Cooper managed a half-dead laugh. "Now you tell me."

I flapped backwards and wrapped both my hands around the chain attached to his right
wrist, near to the wall. My palms started to smoke and an aching pain spread up my
arms. I didn't care.

"Wait," Cooper moaned.

I stretched the chain taunt, braced myself for what was coming and bit down on it.
Hard.

The chain snapped.

Cooper swung wildly. I clutched the broken chain attached to his wrist in my grip
and pumped my wings as hard as I could, my tail swinging from side to side as I tried
to stabilize us. Spitting metal and blood from my mouth, I moved to his other wrist,
determined to get him down and to safety.

At the sight of the blood coating his side and leg, a sickening feeling of failure
flooded me. I had let my panic get the better of me. I had to think this through.

If I held him, I couldn't reach the chains. If I got to the chains, I couldn't support
him. There was no easy way to do this.

I wrapped one scaled arm around his upper body and pulled him against my torso. My
wings strained to keep us both up.

Fear for him roared through me as I maneuvered us to the chain holding his other arm.
I bit through it with a vengeance, hardly noticing as the poison stripped another
layer of skin from my tongue.

Cooper bucked against me and went limp. I fought to stabilize us, fearing the worst.
I had to get to the other chains.

With a queasy feeling, I eased him down until he hung upside down and then I let go.
His limp body swung gently from the chains attached to his ankles. Blood seeped from
his leg and side, dripping down to hit the floor far below, but he was still breathing
and a tingle of happiness coiled through my stomach.

He also no longer fed the vortex, though it didn't seem to make much difference. The
black, malicious energy continued to spiral in the center of the swaying children,
radiating a hungry viciousness.

I grabbed the chain holding his left leg and snapped it. Adjusting my balance, I bit
through the last chain.

The sudden full weight of Cooper's body nearly pulled him out of my grip. My back
strained with the effort, but I grabbed for his leg and held on.

Turning, I struggled toward the closest walkway, opposite from where Navarro had jumped
me. I barely cleared the railing, stumbling as I landed. Gently, I lowered Cooper
onto the walkway.

I wasn't surprised when Chiwa stepped from behind a packing crate a couple yards away.
I'd already smelled her.

She ran toward us. "He can't shift with the treated metal touching his skin. He's
going to die."

I snapped my teeth at her. Cooper would not die. I wouldn't let him.

"Cuss me all you want, it's the truth," she said.

I narrowed my eyes at her. How did she know it was me?

"I saw you shift," she said.

Awesome. A witness I couldn't kill.

"I won't tell." She knelt next to Cooper and examined the shackles with shaking, clumsy
hands. "They're old. They have a place for a key."

A key? Where had I seen keys recently?

Of course! I nodded my head and took off, a surge of hope easing the aching fatigue
screaming through my body.

Across the cavernous room, I landed on the other walkway next to my human clothes.
Out of the darkness, a vampire guard sprang at me, the sword gripped in his fist swinging
toward my head in a blur of movement.

I had no time for pests. I back handed him with my tail before his sword reached me
and he sailed over the broken railing. I heard him hit with a sickening wet crunch
as I bent to gather up my clothes and gear—not an easy task with six inch claws.

Clutching my belongings to my chest, I leapt into the air and glided back to the other
walkway. I landed next to Chiwa and thrust the clothes at her, my attention on Cooper.
He still breathed, but each pull of air seemed shallow and labored. We were losing
him.

The girl frowned. "What are these for?"

Growling, I pointed at one of the ankle shackles. I made a twisting motion with my
hand and wrist like I was turning a key.

Chiwa's eyes widened. "Oh!"

The chanting below us reached a terrible crescendo as she quickly dug through my clothes.
The magic washed over me and a shiver of apprehension ran down my back. Something
was happening below and it wasn't good.

In my fear for Cooper, I'd ignored the threat Navarro still posed. I hoped the man
I loved had a chance to yell at me later for my carelessness.

I gently stroked his face with the back of my hand, barely able to feel his skin through
the scales armoring mine. Turning, I dove off the balcony.

*  *  *

Below me, the chanting child practitioners jerked and gyrated around the vortex like
garish puppets, their faces slack as if hypnotized. Above them, Navarro stood on a
twelve foot high metal platform that he'd pushed into position above the vortex.

He pressed my knife to the throat of a terrified boy who, in appearance, seemed the
same age as the vampire. Five more kids of various ages and genders stood behind him,
clinging to each other.

I circled above the platform looking for a way to end Navarro without endangering
the kids. The odds weren't promising.

Navarro looked up at me with an arrogant grin on his face. "The spell demands a sacrifice,
Were-Demon. You've robbed me of the wolf prince. Now others must pay."

The knife flashed to create a red ribbon of blood across the boy's throat and Navarro
pushed him off the platform. I drew back in shock, momentarily stunned. My stomach
jumped and I dove for the child as he plunged into the vortex.

I was too late. As the thick darkness swallowed him, his terrified eyes met mine and
then he disappeared. Growling, I spun toward Navarro.

He grabbed the girl nearest to him. "The magic hungers for blood." He lifted the knife
to the child's throat. "You can save them by taking their place. The life of a dimension-walker
will more than compensate for what you've cost me." 

Hatred burned through my heart. I swooped down at him, mouth open, claws out. He flinched
and I snatched the child out of his grip, lifting up and away before he could react.
I lowered her onto the top of a stack of crates in the far corner.

Fury flashed across Navarro's pockmarked face. He grabbed another kid and pushed her
off the platform. She screamed a horrible shriek of terror as she fell into the vortex
and disappeared.

I dove for the platform, grabbing two boys before Navarro could seize them and delivered
them to the crates. They collapsed next to the girl, sobbing.

I wheeled in midair and bulleted toward the last child. Navarro sprang from the platform,
a magnificent leap that carried him nearly twenty feet into the air. I banked to avoid
him, but he'd caught me by surprise. He landed on my back and locked his arm around
my throat like an iron vice.

"Evil will always triumph, demon," he hissed in my ear. "Do you know why?"

I pitched and rolled, trying to shake him.

"Because it never hesitates to do what it must to win."

He stabbed me in the shoulder as I careened like a bronco, trying to knock him off.
I flew backwards, colliding against the wall as he plunged the knife into my side,
shoulder, back—any spot he could reach. Pain hammered into me with each strike of
the knife as I bashed him against the wall again and again, until I was dizzy from
it.

I felt my strength draining away. I needed a new plan.

Flying toward the ceiling to give myself more space, I thrashed at him with my tail,
aiming for his head. He ducked and one of the spikes punctured his shoulder, a nasty
wound but the not enough to slow him down.

I bled from a dozen places, the agony of my wounds burning into my whole body. I stuttered
in midair and felt Navarro tense. I could only see one way to lose him. I plunged
toward the floor.

The ground rushed at me and I wondered how much it would hurt when we slammed into
it. Navarro didn't wait to find out. He jumped free.

With smug triumph, I pulled up at the last minute, though I didn't have quite enough
skill and precision to avoid impact completely. I hit the floor and rolled in a practiced
fighting move, coming up on my feet.

He sprinted toward the sword lying next to the broken body of the vampire guard. Grabbing
the weapon, he pivoted toward me.

With a roar of fury, I sprang at him.

*  *  *

Cooper watched his body's chest rising and falling in shallow breaths that told him
this life would soon be over. Of course, he already knew that. The fact that he was
standing next to himself and the practitioner girl couldn't see him was a pretty big
clue.

He watched impassively as she worked frantically to find the right key that would
open the poisoned shackles clamped to his body. Suddenly aware of another presence,
he glanced to his left and noticed that his father stood next to him. He hadn't been
there a moment before, but that didn't seem to startle or shock him.

The last time he'd seen his father, the older man's hair had been grey and his square,
chiseled face worn down by the burdens of leadership. His body had also been broken
and shredded from the surprise attack of an enemy Clan.

Now he looked fresh, young and whole. Cooper studied him with interest. He hadn't
realized how much Ryker looked like Dad until that moment. Their father had been well
into his middle years before he'd married and started a family. Whenever they'd asked
him about it, Dad had said that it took him half his life to find the perfect mate
and it had been worth it.

You look pretty good for someone who's been dead for twenty years
, Cooper said. Or thought. He hadn't actually moved his mouth.

A familiar smile quirked the side of Dad's mouth.
It's a nice perk.

Since you're here, I'm guessing that I'm not going to make it.

In front of them, the girl gave a triumphant squeak. Aiming an ancient looking rusty
key at his leg, she pounced on the left shackle.

The mystical glow surrounding her body brightened. The blood in her was powerful.
In its own way, almost as strong as his own had been.

She possesses an ancient heritage,
Dad communicated as if he knew what Cooper was thinking. Which he probably did.
She too has magic this world hasn't seen in ten thousand years.
Her destiny is yet before her. As is yours.

My time here is finished.

You don't want to go back
? his father asked.

I like this better. Nothing hurts.

Dad's expression sobered.
Bad things are coming. Worse than the vampire. You'll be needed.

The girl unlocked the shackles with quick efficiency. Grimacing, she grabbed hold
of the stake in his side and pulled.

It was interesting watching the metal slide from his body and feeling nothing, not
even emotional regret. Strange, too.

Pulling out the other stake in his leg, she jumped to his head and patted one cheek
and then the other. The head lolled limply with each gently strike.

"Come on, come on, come on. Scary monster lady would not like it if you bite the big
one," the girl said, an edge of desperation in her voice.

He was sorry to make her feel that way, but not enough to return.

You should go back
, Dad communicated.

The battered, broken body sprawling at Cooper's feet stopped breathing.

"Oh, my god," the girl cried, frantic now.