Ancient Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress #1)(46)

“My deirfiúr will help.” My chest felt tight as I watched him rise gracefully and walk out of the shop.

“What the hell is going on?” Nix hissed as soon as he was gone. “Weren’t those the shadow demons you mentioned before?”

“Yeah. I have no idea what’s going on. Dr. Garriso said there are thousands of them. They can’t all work for the same guy. After I talked to him, I decided it was coincidence. The demon who guarded the chalice was separate from the ones who were trying to steal the scroll. But now that they came for the chalice, it’s clearly no coincidence.”

“So we hunt them down,” Del said. She gripped her sword.

“Yeah,” I said. “We hunt them down.”

“We’ll go with you.”

I nodded. Though part of me wanted them to stay here where it was safe, I knew they’d laugh in my face if I suggested it. Just like I’d laugh in theirs if they suggested I stay behind the front line.

“Let’s get cleaned up. When Aidan gets back, we’ll close up shop and follow them. The tracking charm should still work.” In my panic, I’d left it in Aidan’s car. I hoped he’d make sure it was all right.

Aidan walked in the door a second later.

“That didn’t take you long,” I said.

“I wasn’t going to the hardware store for plywood.”

“No?”

“No. I just made a call. It’ll be here soon.”

“Oh, right.” He was filthy rich. Of course he didn’t go to the hardware store himself. And if he did, it wasn’t in moments like this, when he’d rather be interrogating me or hunting down our prey. “We’re going to get cleaned up. Then we can go after that guy.”

“All right. Let me help you with your back,” Aidan said.

“Nix or Del will do it.”

“I’m way too beat,” Del said.

“Same,” Nix said. “I need a shower.”

I glared at them. Seriously? They were doing this because they wanted to force me and Aidan together. “Monsters”, I mouthed at them.

They both shrugged, then helped each other to their feet. Del looked particularly wobbly. No surprise, considering the strength of the mystery mage.

My back burned as I stood. Every movement wiggled the glass lodged in my skin. My jacket had kept a lot of it out, but there were still some good-sized shards in there. Even the little ones burned.

A van pulled up outside the broken door. A logo on the side said Origin Enterprises, and two men in blue polo shirts hopped out. They nodded at Aidan and went to the back of the van.

As they pulled out big pieces of plywood, I asked Aidan, “Can these guys watch the shop while we get our wounds taken care of? We’ll only be ten minutes, then we need to go after the thief.”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s do this upstairs.” I’d have to take my shirt off, and I really didn’t want to do it in the middle of the shop.

Aidan spoke to the repair guys while I retrieved my copper-hilt daggers and headed out the door, Nix and Del behind me. He caught up to us as we were letting ourselves in the door that led to our apartments.

We climbed silently up the stairs, Del and Nix veering off to go into Del’s apartment. Aidan followed me up the next two flights to my place. I let myself in and headed straight to the bathroom.

“Give me a second alone,” I said. Then I shut the door in his face.

I tried not to make any noise while I peeled my jacket off, but I really wanted to curse a blue streak. The leather pulled some of the glass out of my skin, and it tinkled when it hit the tile. I couldn’t tell, but it felt like more was lodged in my t-shirt.

It took me a minute to find some scissors in the cabinet—I preferred to cut my own hair because I hated the small talk in the chair—and I cut my shirt off. It was toast anyway, and just the idea of peeling it over my head sent a streak of pain through my back. No way was I trying it in real life.

“Are you all right?”

I jumped at the sound of Aidan’s voice.

“Fine!” I stifled a curse as I gingerly removed the shirt. Even more glass fell to the floor. I was sweating as I turned my back toward the mirror and peered over my shoulder.

Blood streaked everywhere and glass glinted in the light. A sigh heaved out of me. Okay, so I wasn’t going to be able to take care of this myself. Hopes officially dashed.

I faced my back to the door and crossed my arms over my chest, then called, “Okay, you can come in.”

Aidan’s footsteps crunched on the glass as he stepped in. “Holy hell, that’s bad.”

“Yeah. Can you do something about it?”

“Yeah.” His fresh forest scent washed over me as he stepped close.

Suddenly, my back hurt a lot less. I was more focused on how close he stood than on the glass lodged in my skin. When he laid his big hand on my shoulder, I thought I stopped breathing. His palm was warm and a bit rough, as if he worked with his hands.

Warmth radiated out from where he touched me. Sharp little pricks of pain shot from the shards of glass as my skin pushed them out. They plinked when they hit the floor.

“Most were shallow because of your jacket,” Aidan said.

I’d known those jackets were a good idea.

“A few of the deeper ones will take another day to heal fully, but they shouldn’t give you much problem.”