Obsidian Magic (Legacy Series Book 2) Page 23

  Gareth worked quickly. She didn’t have the same look of apprehension and fear that she’d had when we’d discussed her meeting with the other councils, which was a relief. She seemed anxious and excited. It was comforting to know she would be allied with a group immune to magic and political manipulation. All the traits most people hated about shifters were the very ones that made them great allies. Allies I was glad Savannah would have.

  CHAPTER 12

  Less than twenty-four hours later, Gareth wanted to work on finding Conner. We couldn’t give him more time to either devise a plan to get his remaining followers or start recruiting more. The goal was to apprehend him—and I didn’t have any plans of leaving without succeeding.

  I wasn’t sure what game he was playing, but I could feel Conner’s magic before I came into the area. I should have expected it: when I did a locating spell, the light fluttered an odd color. He taunted me with a magical invite. I had my sai in hand, circling. The SG had surrounded the area, everyone in pursuit of him. In the back of my mind I kept wondering if he would and could be cruel enough to do a spell and wipe us all out. Desperation made people unwise. I wasn’t sure if Conner was desperate yet, or just angry. He’d prided himself on the loyalties of others and it had emboldened him. I’d fractured his ego when I wasn’t easily persuaded.

  “Anya.” I didn’t cringe at the sound of my name or the rough way he said it. He spit it out with the same disgust one would spoiled food. Nearly forty feet away, he cleared the distance when he disappeared and reappeared less than a foot away with a sword in hand. I assumed a defensive position, sai in hand ready to strike. The goal was to apprehend him. That was the SG goal—I wasn’t sure it was mine. They wanted him arrested and forced to wear iridium. I wished I could say that I believed that would change things, but I didn’t. It would only compound his contempt for supernaturals.

  I gripped the sai as Conner and I slowly circled each other, his sword held casually at his side.

  “Are we really going to do this?” he asked. He stopped and studied me, piercing gray eyes boring into me, studying me with a renewed interest. A smile played at his lips.

  “I don’t want to,” I admitted. That wasn’t the truth, but telling him I wanted to hurt him so bad it made my palms sweat was a little tacky.

  “Then why are you doing it?”

  “I need you to stop. I tried to reason with you. Nothing.” He was the end of this. I hated it, but it was where I stood with this. I had to sever the head to kill the monster. I hadn’t decided if it was going to be literally or metaphorically. But it was up to him.

  “Well, you have me at a disadvantage. You want me dead, I don’t wish such a fate for you.”

  Which was my advantage. But I refused to be a part of his nefarious adventure to do the Cleanse over again. And I would do whatever was necessary to stop it—even kill. It was never going to sit well with me that I had to kill—even worse, my own kind, or someone close to it. The gnawing guilt was there and it shouldn’t be. Conner had made his choice. I’d given him more than enough chances to concede. If death was the ending, it was his own doing, not mine.

  Conner’s eyes narrowed on me; sparks of magic wrapped around his body and the aura of it was strong. He was stronger; I couldn’t defeat him using magic. I wasn’t sure if I was a better fighter, because he seemed to have been playing with me before. I had a feeling playtime was over.

  “I don’t want to kill you, but I will. And your little friend, Gareth, is it? Savannah will be an easier—”

  I lunged at him, the blade of the sai barely missing him. As he turned around, I turned in time to miss the edge of his sword. He smiled. Was he testing me again?

  “You fight well,” I said.

  “It is unfortunate that I do. But we had to learn, didn’t we?”

  I lunged at him and jabbed at him with my right sai. With a quick and graceful turn, he dodged it. I struck with the other and missed him again. My third attempt caught his left side. He sucked in the gasp and stumbled away.

  Touching his hand at his side he pulled back crimson.

  “You stop this.” It was my last attempt at reason. I needed to know I’d done everything I could to stop him before resorting to murder.

  His sword came down again. I blocked it with one sai and the other sank into his abdomen. Shock eclipsed his face, more red colored his shirt. I ripped the sai out, and he howled in pain. I cringed at the sound. Assassinating my kind felt wrong; we’d had it done to us so many times. Memories of my parents flashed in my head and I tried to push them aside. This wasn’t the same. It wasn’t.

  Another quick lunge, and he spun away. Then he disappeared and reappeared several feet away from me.

  “You would have been a great one for me to have. Your life will end the same way that you’ve lived it.” He bowed his head.

  Then I was surrounded by trees and tall grass. I looked past the thick bosk, and in the far distance there was open land but nothing else. Where the hell had he sent me? I moved slowly around, negotiating the crowded area. The only sounds were my footsteps. For nearly a mile, that was all I heard. But I was close to the land, maybe forty or fifty feet away.

  As I moved closer to the edge of the forest, I heard more footsteps. They were light at first. I stopped and had to strain to hear them. One step, two steps, three and then the paws poked out before the three heads. Dagger-sharp fangs and a massive body. It moved quick like a feline but had thick, sinewy muscles. Each head was different: one a lion, another something wolflike, and the last a serpent. I had no idea what the hell it was. I watched the sinuous movement of the snake, because it had a longer reach than the others. Its tongue darted out, tasting the air. I wondered which head was the most dangerous. Didn’t matter, it was attached to one body. I just needed to get to the body.

  I moved back slowly. I needed to get away from the trees, give myself room to fight. The forest had too many obstacles and dangers of falling. I didn’t need to have this creature over me.

  It continued to take slow, deliberate steps toward me as I focused on the snake that went out to the side, wrapped around, and moved independently of the other two heads. Too much movement—less restricted than that of any snake I’d ever seen. Was this one of the “special” places where the Magic Council sent creatures they were unable to contain? Would it increase in mass like the minotaur had once it had fed? Nothing else was present, so the only thing that could feed them was me. Was this creature so dangerous that it was housed by itself?

  It was slower than a lion but quicker than a wolf, and it took on small traits of all three animals, including the sinuous movement of the snake. Then it stopped, assessing me as if it was trying to decide whether I was predator or prey. Sai in hand, I waited for it to move. Prey. The snake recoiled back and finally struck, its reach nearly seven feet longer than I expected. A sharp jab with my sai impaled its scaly flesh. It recoiled back, freeing itself, and seconds later the wound closed. It healed itself. Like we healed ourselves. It wasn’t a shapeshifter. Fuck.

  The snake snapped out to the side, a distraction as the wolflike creature snapped at me. With a smooth, quick under arc strike, the sai sank in under its chin. It howled; I jabbed again with the other. The creature stumbled back several feet and jerked itself off the weapon. Blood spurted, but it wouldn’t be long before it healed itself. I didn’t wait.

  I ran out of the forest, hitting open land and turning in time to miss a strike from the snake’s tongue. At least I thought I did. When something bumped into my side, I retreated back. The three-headed creature made its move, lunging at me. I jumped to the right, but its claws grazed my side. When I jammed my sai into the offending paw, the thing made a sound that was a disturbing combination of a howl, hiss, and roar. A loud, deafening shriek that reverberated and rang in my ears. It tried to pull away; I kept the sai in it, throwing it off-balance. The snake struck at me again. I dodged back, and it hit air. The other sai went into its throat this time, and another de
afening sound filled the air. I gritted my teeth and bore it, refusing to let go. I pulled both sai out and moved back, avoiding the pools of blood that covered the grass.

  Changing my strategy, I went on the offensive and attacked, lunging at it, dodging around the striking snake head, whose second wound was healing slower than the first. It was weakening—healing magic required a lot of energy. It slowed, and losing the grace of movement, it lumbered to get away from my next attack. I thrust into its chest, and it stumbled back. A diaphanous wall formed around it, coming down weakly with very little use of magic. The creature’s breathing faltered to ragged gasps. It barely moved. Stepping back slowly, I watched it carefully for any more movement. There wasn’t any.

  Then I moved quickly toward the outskirts of the field, looking for an exit. It wasn’t hard to find, a live wire of magic that violently strummed against me. My magic pushed into it lightly; it gave. I added a little more force. I didn’t want to use more magic than necessary because I wasn’t sure what was waiting for me on the other side. Conner was playing his little games and I needed to be prepared and at my best. The wall wavered and finally gave, or rather it spat me out as though I’d worn out my welcome. I wondered if the creature had anything to do with it. I tumbled through the wall, spilling at Conner’s feet.

  “Is my pet alive?”

  Pet. Yeah, that’s about right.

  He frowned at my silence.

  This was going to end. I pushed him back hard, slinging strong magic into his chest. He recovered in time for the sai to sink into the flesh of his abdomen. His teeth clenched, but he wouldn’t give me the pleasure of showing any more signs of pain. I swiped his leg, and as he crashed to the ground, I pulled the gun from my back holster and took the shot before he could move. It wasn’t the pain of iridium being shot through his body, but the restriction of magic that bothered him. It was the first time since I’d encountered him that he’d shown anything other than confidence and haughtiness. He struggled with being divested of his power, if only for a few minutes.

  I had no idea where I’d landed and if Gareth could get to me in time. Six minutes would be the longest break I’d have before he’d have his magic back, and I wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to find me. I wished I could have handled the cuffs, but I couldn’t and use magic. I didn’t want to be magicless going up against Conner. His eyes blazed with a new fury. My title changed: no more consort, probably mortal enemy. The minutes moved by faster than I anticipated. I pulled the sai out of his abdomen and prepared to engage if Gareth didn’t arrive in time. Conner disappeared. Dammit.

  Magic hit me hard and I slammed face-first into the ground several feet away. My sai sprawled off to my right, one barely out of reach, the other several inches away. I rolled to my feet and grabbed one in time to block the sword swinging at me. I needed to move more to get to the other. Enchanted so that they couldn’t be used against me, they weren’t of use to Conner. He drove me back and kicked it out of the way.

  “This isn’t how it should have been.” His deep voice was laden with anger and contempt.

  I stepped back several steps. “Tell me—what should have made me swoon over you—the idea that you wanted to decimate a group of people, or that you locked me up with your freaky pet in hopes that it would kill me? Neither is on the short list of how to get a woman.”

  He slowly circled me and stopped when he reached the spot where he could place himself between me and the other sai. “You have the others,” he said in a low, ominous voice. “You will have them released.”

  “No. I guess you haven’t been paying attention. They chose the wrong side, and so did you.” The more I thought about the situation, the more frustrated it made me. If he’d succeeded, so many people would have lost their lives, and for what—so he and the others could be the only magic wielders? In the end, this all came back to his ideology and the very one that had led to the Cleanse.

  The magic came at me quick and the ward that I’d erected barely stood after he attacked it with several more charges of magic. It wavered, bulging in, strained and preparing to fall. I didn’t expect it to survive another one and I couldn’t waste the energy to try to hold it. When he hit it with another blast of magic I let it fall, lunging to the right and rolling close enough to grab the other sai. The twins in hand, I sprang at him, wedging one through his blade and holding it. I thrust out the other and caught him in the side of the leg. I withdrew and attacked again next to the wound. He stumbled back, but I kept going. Strike. Parry. Jab. Crimson colored his shirt. He panted and I allowed him to move back several more feet. When he placed his hand over his shirt and the blood still remained, I knew he was weakened. I pushed all the magic I had into one sai and he tumbled back. Another jab came from the cave lion that attacked him from the left, hitting him hard enough that he crashed to the ground. Before he could recover, cuffs were placed around his arms by another agent. Conner collapsed to the ground, and not from any of his injuries. Being rendered magicless was a bigger injury than anything I could have given him.

  “What the hell?” Gareth gasped once he was in human form again. He moved my arm, and with adrenaline sinking down, I finally felt the injuries. There was a gash on my stomach, snakebites on my arm, and cuts on my thigh. I thought they looked worse than they were. They weren’t. I sucked in a breath and held it. I wasn’t sure why, because that sure as hell didn’t help with the pain.

  Don’t pass out. And I said it over and over again, but my body wasn’t taking direction. Bile crept up and I felt light-headed.

  “Can you at least heal the wound on your stomach? That looks the worst.” Based on the blurred grimace on his face, it wasn’t by much.

  “Just a minute.” I lowered myself to the ground and lay back. I’d used more magic than I ever had in a fight. My intention was to rest for a moment and then attempt to heal myself. If only it had worked out that way.

  The bed that I woke up in wasn’t mine, but it was comfortable enough. I looked around the room: pale yellow walls, generic art of the wilderness and children playing on the walls, a small TV mounted to the wall, and in the chair next to me, Gareth, with a frown etched so deeply on his face it looked painful. I had several bouquets of flowers ranging from simple roses to orchids and lilies. And a gift basket that I planned on emptying as soon as I could get near it.

  “I have a couple of questions,” I informed Gareth. “Who sent me all the flowers, and can you hand me that gift basket?” His brow rose and then he stood, grabbed the basket, and handed it to me. I took out the two chocolate bars and started eating them.

  He rolled his eyes in the direction of the flowers. “You wake up in a hospital, and those are your first questions.”

  I nodded.

  He grimaced and then shook his head. “As you probably guessed, the flowers and the basket are from Lucas. I can only imagine what the room would look like if you dared to be here more than two days.”

  Two days explained the hunger. I wondered why they hadn’t tried to feed me intravenously.

  “The mage saw fit to let me starve?” I asked.

  “No, they tried to insert an IV but couldn’t get past your wards. I guess after they stuck you the first time to give you intravenous meds, you didn’t like it. You put up a ward each time anyone came near you. Is that typical?”

  I shrugged. “I’ve never been unconscious before, and I don’t know what I do in my sleep.”

  “You put up wards in your sleep,” he offered with a half-smile.

  “I have another question. Is there any way I can get a cheeseburger and fries?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “You don’t want to know about the poisonous snakebites, the three large claw marks on your leg, or the gut wound?”

  I thought about it. “Hmm. Yeah, how did that go?”

  “How did that go!” If he didn’t calm down, he was going to need a pill or something. “How did it go!”

  Maybe something stronger.

  “It’s m
addening, isn’t it?” Savannah asked as she came through the door. “She does it all the time.” Then with a dramatic roll of her eyes and an over-the-top gesticulation of her hands, she did a poor impersonation of my voice. “‘It’s just a ten-inch gash, I’ll live.’”

  “Well, if everyone is finished mocking the injured woman, can someone give me some clothes so I can go home?”

  I waited to see which one would be more appalled by my request. Savannah won. She shrugged and handed me a bag of clothes she must have brought for me. “Of course, why not let the near-dead woman go home the moment she wakes up? Nothing bad can come from that. Why not?” she prattled on in a huff. But she didn’t insist that I stay.

  The mage physician told Savannah I was fine and wouldn’t have any side effects from the medication they had given me for the venomous bite. The other injuries had been healed using mage magic. What she heard was I was an invalid, had an incurable disease, and only had days to live—or rather that was how she’d treated me. I had to keep reminding her what the doctor said. Showing her a scar-free leg and abdomen helped. Kalen was calling every hour on the hour to check on me because Savannah was the one who’d called to let him know why I wasn’t at work and had given him her version of the story. He was convinced that the Grim Reaper was coming any day to claim me. Two days after I was released from the hospital, she was still my shadow. I needed to get away from Nurse Savannah, which made accepting Gareth’s invitation to dinner a very easy choice. Spend another night with Savannah, the overzealous nurse, or Gareth?

  I looked around the restaurant and was glad I’d let Savannah convince me to change into a black halter dress, pin my hair up, and wear the small jeweled necklace Kalen had given me for Christmas in hopes that I would don more than my Converses and plaid. I hadn’t heard of the place, and when I’d looked it up online, the pictures hadn’t done it justice. Cascades of billowy silk drapes decorated the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Pendant lights set a mood that hinted at exclusivity. And if that didn’t provide enough clues, the elegantly dressed waitstaff in their all-black suits definitely conveyed it. It was another restaurant that was hard to get a reservation for and had a hefty price for the privilege of doing so.