Natural Mage (Magical Mayhem #2)(30)

Logic fled. Trying to do the right spell wasn’t even a concern. Like I’d done in the warehouse and in the Guild’s compound, I instinctively wove Marie’s magic into my own. The pattern came naturally, my focus on protection and repulsion both. My goal was simply to keep the vampire away, but if push came to shove, I would unleash hell.

Marie’s body tightened under me. More of her magic pumped out, primal, aggressive, and thrilling. I wrapped it into the spell I was weaving, going with the flow.

“Get the natural out of here,” Darius yelled, startling Marie into action.

She spun, but not before I loosed the spell. It tumbled down the hallway, barely missing Darius before expanding.

Ja hissed. Her clothes ripped, and milky-white skin burst through them as she changed into her monster form.

“Oh crap,” I said, her image jiggling as Marie ran. “That one is really old.”

My magic flowered right before it got to the vampire, flashing brightly colored light, but I didn’t get to see anything more than that. Marie turned the corner into the room I’d walked through earlier, finding one last new vampire, huddled near a couch. Even upside down and bouncing around on her shoulder, I could tell it was shaking like a frightened animal.

“That old vampire is intense if she’s making the new one cower,” I said, trying to keep my breath with her shoulder cutting into my gut.

“The young one is afraid of you.” She gracefully sped down a hall and to the mouth of the stairs, so much faster than a human.

“Feel free to take these slow—” A shock wave rumbled through the house. The walls and ceiling groaned with the flux. The floor shook.

Marie put on a burst of speed, taking two stairs at a time. I felt weightless, then slammed down on her shoulder. Weightless, slammed down.

“Slower,” I tried to get out between the grunts, struggling to find a way to stop the pain.

She leapt three-quarters of the way down, holding my legs with one hand and holding the other out for balance.

“Nooooo—”

She landed, something snapped, and she guided my body to land on her shoulder again, all in one graceful, ice-skater-like movement.

I wasn’t so graceful.

The impact knocked the air from my lungs. I gasped and shoved at her, trying to get free. Trying to straighten up, or curl over, or something that might help me get more air.

She staggered to the side, and I realized it was her shoe heel that had snapped. The dip helped me escape, and I rolled off, hitting the ground painfully.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

I looked up as the corrosive magic slammed into me, trying to drag me under its hypnotic spell. Marie’s body ripped through her beautiful dress as she shifted to her monster form, taking two fast steps before crouching in front of me with her claws out, hissing.

“Go.” The scratchy, badly articulated word came from Marie’s vampire form, something I hadn’t realized was possible. “Go!”

A white, black, and red form walked in jerky steps to the top of the stairs, one of its legs crunching with each step from a wonky knee, causing the lower leg to angle off in the wrong direction. Once it reached the top of the stairs, I could make out the intense burn marks scoring its front, some of them dribbling blood. Other areas, not burned, had gaping wounds, some showing bone and others dripping blood like a faucet. One arm was out of the socket, and two fingers were missing off the other hand.

That vampire should be dead. My spell had obviously blasted through it. Charred it. Cut it. Darius and Moss, the backups, had clearly smashed and ripped at it. Had stood in its way and fought tooth and nail.

“Oh my God.” I breathed softly as realization dawned. My lower lip trembled. “Did that thing kill Darius and Moss?”

Something else occurred to me, and it squeezed my chest painfully until I could barely breathe. Darius and Moss might have died to give me a fighting chance to escape. Marie stood in front of me, crouching and hissing, ready to fight for me too.

They were putting themselves in harm’s way to protect me.

I’d always heard vampires weren’t loyal. That they couldn’t be trusted. But Darius had tried to save me twice tonight, and his people had backed him up. Even now, Marie could easily stand aside. If that thing up there had killed her boss, she could walk away without looking back.

Yet there she stood, her body trembling and her fangs and claws out, ready to fight a much more powerful vampire.

What type of person would walk away from this? Would whisper a thanks and saunter out the door?

“No more hiding in closets,” I whispered. That was the promise I’d made to myself after Emery had left. That I would learn magic, excel at it, and never hide again.

Well, here I was. Challenge accepted.

I flexed my fingers and squared my shoulders. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing, but I was going to do it big.





15





The vampire stared down at us, ready to descend.

Pushing away the fear, ignoring the list of spells running through my head that only seemed to throw me off, I centered myself by focusing on the nature drifting around me. The fragrant smell of the flowers. The air drifting along my skin.

The magic leveled out, balanced. My knees shook.

Another footfall hit the stairs. The old vampire’s magic tried to swirl within mine. She was gaining power. Healing.