Cold Burn of Magic(59)

“Are you okay?” Devon asked.

“Just peachy.”

His gaze dropped to my left leg and the blood that had soaked my cargo pants. Then his eyes went to my sword, which I was leaning on as if it were a crutch. “Are you sure?”

I waved my hand. “It’s just a scratch. I’m fine—”

The last bit of magic that had been keeping me going fizzled out of my veins like bubbles escaping from a can of soda. I sagged and would have pitched forward if Devon hadn’t stepped up to catch me. He was stronger than I thought, and he easily put me back on my feet and held me steady.

“Maybe you should sit down,” he said, his green eyes twinkling just a bit.

“Maybe just for a second.”

He helped me over to a chair in the children’s section and eased me down into it. His hand burned on my arm, hot instead of cold, but feeling like magic all the same. A different kind of magic—one that I had no idea what to do about.

“Thanks,” I said in a soft voice.

“You’re welcome,” Devon replied, his voice as low as mine.

His warm hand lingered on my arm a moment longer before he straightened up and stepped back.

Felix looked back and forth between us, before his gaze moved over the rest of the library, taking in all the dead bodies, overturned shelves, haphazard piles of books, and busted tables and chairs. Finally, he stared at Devon.

“You know, I think Lila’s right,” Felix said. “You should call your mom now.”

Devon groaned.





CHAPTER NINETEEN


Claudia showed up about twenty minutes later, along with Grant, Reginald, Angelo, and a dozen Sinclair guards, all wearing black cloaks and carrying swords. They swarmed into the library and started searching the building.

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

The guards’ shouts rang out from one section of the library to the other.

Devon, Felix, and I had taken refuge in the children’s area, sitting at a kid-size table and matching chairs. Once the guards had cleared the library, Claudia stalked over to us, with Reginald and Grant trailing along behind her.

“Devon?” Claudia asked, her worried gaze locking on to the gash on his wrist.

“I’m fine, Mom,” he said. “It’s just a cut.”

She looked at Felix, who’d escaped the fight with some cuts and bruises and an eye that was starting to blacken, before finally turning to me. She stared at the blood trickling down my leg, despite the paper towels I was pressing to the wound.

“What happened?” Claudia asked. “What are you doing here?”

I opened my mouth to tell her it was my fault, but Devon beat me to it.

“Felix and I came to help Lila pack up the rest of her things,” Devon said.

“Is that so?” Claudia murmured, staring at all three of us in turn.

Devon kept his gaze steady on hers. Felix grinned, but it was a nervous expression. I shrugged.

Finally, she faced Devon again. “Why would you do that? Without bringing any of the guards with you?”

Devon got to his feet. “Because I don’t need the guards. I can take care of myself.”

Claudia started to open her mouth, but she thought better of it when she realized we were all staring at her. Instead, she jerked her head. Devon sighed and followed her over to the checkout counter, out of earshot of the rest of us. But I could imagine the lecture Claudia was giving him.

Reginald and Grant moved off to check on the guards, and I got to my feet as well.

“What are you doing?” Felix asked. “You should be taking it easy until we get back to the mansion, and we can get you healed up.”

“I want to check on something. Are you going to help me or not?”

“All right, all right,” Felix said, putting his arm around my waist.

He helped me over to the man who had attacked me, the one who’d had a speed Talent, the one Devon had commanded. I sat down on the floor beside the dead man. Felix rolled him over, and I pulled the guy’s wallet out of his back pocket. But he didn’t have any ID on him, no driver’s license or credit cards, so I threw the wallet aside in disgust and patted down the rest of his pockets. Along with some crumpled bills, which I kept for myself, I found a pack of gum, a small comb, and one very interesting thing—a silver cuff with a wolf ’s head stamped on it.

The Volkov Family crest.

I showed the cuff to Felix. He went over to a couple of the other dead guys, and sure enough, they all had a similar cuff tucked into their pockets.

Felix shook his head. “I can’t believe that they’re all Volkov guards.”

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t make any sense. We don’t have any major problems with the Volkovs. Besides, the Itos were the ones who probably attacked and killed Lawrence. So why would Volkov guards attack us tonight? Why not some of the Itos instead?”

I turned the Volkov cuff around and around in my hand, watching the silver gleam underneath the lights. Felix was right. It didn’t make sense, that one Family would be responsible for the first attack on Devon and Lawrence and a different Family for the one here in the library. There had to be something that tied them all together—or someone.

Maybe this wasn’t about the Families so much as it was about the mystery man. But surely, he had to be working for someone in order to have hired that much muscle. Either that, or he was independently wealthy. But even then, someone should know something about him.