A Grave Magic: The Shadow Sorceress Book One (12 page)

“
S
weetheart
, wake up, you need to wake up….”

My father called out to me, his voice dragging a pained sob from my lips. It had been so long since I’d heard him; I’d forgotten what he sounded like, and even in my dreams, I couldn’t recreate the tone of his voice.

It had been lost to me….

Until now.

“Amber, wake up!”

There was an urgency to his voice and I struggled to open my eyes, but my body felt tired. My lungs were on fire and each breath I took didn’t bring me the relief drinking in a large mouthful of oxygen normally did.

My eyes fluttered open and I stared around at my surroundings; nighttime shouldn’t have been so bright but everywhere I looked, the room was cast in a weird orange glow.

The vampire, the fire. Everything came flooding back to me and I jerked awake.

The room was on fire. The flames had spread from the bed and were making steady progress across the floor to where I lay.

Dragging myself onto my hands and knees, I started to crawl for the door. Keeping low to the floor, I fought my way forward across the hot floorboards.

I had to get out.

Moving only made it harder to breathe and each little bit of progress I made only made the tiredness close in around me faster.

“Amber,” a voice called out, and I gripped the athame tighter.

A figure appeared in the doorway; the cloth he held over his mouth obscured most of his face but I still recognised him. The Hunter from earlier. Tt seemed he just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

He stepped into the room and I tried to crawl past him, but he scooped me up into his arms, crushing my body to his as he carried me out into the smoke filled hall.

He staggered down the hall and I clung to him. It was a sign of weakness, but in that moment I didn’t care. I wanted out of the fiery death trap that my apartment had become and there was no way I was going to find my way out through the hall on my own.

Bursting out into the hall, he collapsed up against the wall and drew in a long shuddering breath. Pressed so close to his chest, I could feel his heart as it hammered against his ribcage, and it was soothing.

“We need to get out onto the street,” he said, starting down the hall and away from the apartment door.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice hoarse and utterly alien to my own ears.

He ducked his head and his face from view, colour spreading across his face and up into his hairline.

“Nic, how did you know?” I said again, this time my voice was a little stronger.

“I left something in your apartment, something that allowed me to keep an eye on you in case something went wrong.”

“But how, you’ve never….” I trailed off, my mind replaying the moment where someone had been in my apartment. The press of his body against mine, the familiar smell of his aftershave as he had pinned me to the wall.

“You,” I said, my voice cracking with rage.

Anger spread through my body like a white hot heat.

“Put me down,” I said, gritting my teeth.

“No, we need to get out of here.”

“I said put me down….” The white heat prickled in my finger tips and danced along the edges of my skin.

Nic’s steps faltered and he glanced down at me, his eyes widening slightly.

“Look, if you’re going to go nuclear, you can just can it. I’m not interested, and you can’t afford to lose control of your abilities in public.” He carried me out into the street and the cold night air was an immediate affront to the rage that coursed in my veins.

A sudden coughing fit washed over me as I drank down a mouthful of clean, crisp air, and I struggled in his grip until he set me safely on my feet. His hand never left my arm as the hacking cough bent me double and I coughed until my eyes watered.

“Do your eyes always do that?” he asked, when I’d finally paused going enough to draw breath.

“Do what?” I said, scrubbing at the tears streaking down my cheeks. The sound of sirens in the distance drawing closer made me suddenly aware of just how little clothes I was actually wearing and how cold the night air was.

“Go all sparkly and midnight blue when you’re pissed. Because I’ve got to say, if that’s the case, I’m surprised there isn’t more people who know about your abilities.”

His statement surprised me and I jerked my head up to meet his gaze. I could feel him studying me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe until they came to rest on my arm.

“Shit, what the hell happened to you?”

He grabbed my arm and twisted it around to get a view of it in the street light. I fought his grip; jerking my arm back from him, I cradled it to my chest.

It hadn’t actually started to hurt until he’d drawn my attention to it and reminded me of what the vampire had done. It started to throb in time with the beat of my heart and I glanced down at the ragged wound.

It could have just as easily been my throat. And if the vamp had had any say in it, it would have been my throat. He’d have happily ripped it out like a rabid dog.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, watching him suspiciously.

He sighed and pressed his hands back through his dark hair; the look of exasperation he gave me might have been funny if the circumstances had been different. And, of course, if he hadn’t just admitted to having broken into my apartment to plant a device just so he could keep an eye on me.

I wasn’t stupid and I could smell a rat a mile away.

“Amber, this isn’t the type of situation where you get to discuss it later. Now, tell me what did that to you?”

“Why do you want to know?” I said, irritation colouring my voice as I turned away from him to hide the fact that my teeth were beginning to chatter.

“Because if, for example, a shifter or werewolf bit you, then what do you think would happen to you?”

“I know what would happen, I’m not stupid.”

“Then you also know what will happen if that bite came from a vampire…” he said, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper as he moved up behind me and draped his jacket over my shoulders.

As far as I was aware, nothing was going to happen to me just because a vampire bit me. I hadn’t shared any of the vampire’s blood and I wasn’t on the verge of death. It was just a bite—a very irritating and rather painful one, but still just a bite none the less. The worst it could be was that I would need to check and make sure all my shots were up to date.

That was
so
not an appointment I was going to enjoy keeping. The nurse and doctors at the clinics had perfected their disapproving stares. Gotten them down to a fine art so now; whether you had anything to be ashamed about or not, they had the power to make you feel ashamed.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” I said.

“We should get you to a hospital, get you checked over by a doctor…” Nic said, his voice trailing off.

Hospital was the last place he was going to want to take me. Hunters and hospitals weren’t exactly the best mix.

“I’m fine,” I said, watching as the lights from the fire trucks pulled onto my street, the sirens blaring as they came racing down towards the apartment block. Tilting my head back, I caught sight of the smoke billowing out through the window of my apartment just as the world started to swim in sickening circles and my knees turned to jelly.

“Maybe I should sit down for a few minutes, I….”

My voice choked off as my legs buckled out from underneath me and the world went dark for the second time that night.

“
M
s. Morgan
, can you hear me?” A voice called out to me, but it wasn’t one I recognised.

Opening my eyes, they were immediately assaulted by the stark white of my surroundings.

Great, you’re dead.

The only problem with that thought was that I knew there wasn’t a chance in Hell of me going to Heaven. And I was pretty sure white wasn’t demonic enough for hell.

The woman who had called my name leaned in over the bed and peered down into my face.

“Can you hear me now, Ms. Morgan?”

“Where the hell am I?” I said. My throat was raw, like I’d swallowed a whole packet of razor blades, but I knew that wasn’t true.

The fire.

The vampire.

Nic.

He was the one thought that didn’t immediately bring me a feeling of anger and the urge for vengeance. Of course, he had broken into my apartment. But how could I stay mad at him? If he hadn’t done it then I wouldn’t have made it out of the apartment and the fire alive.

The thought of dying in a fire was enough to send a shudder of revulsion through me. Even smoke inhalation wasn’t the kind killer they made it out to be, and the after effects of it sure weren’t making me feel peachy.

“You’re in Constance Memorial, you were brought in about twenty minutes ago. Quite a nasty bite you have there….”

I could tell from the tone of her voice and the suspicious way she was watching me that she was concerned. I couldn’t blame her.

Rogue shifters and werewolves were a real problem. The first time they shifted, the newbies tended to get a little rowdy; if there wasn’t a sponsor there to get them through the rough patch, well, people tended to die.

Horribly.

And then the rogue had to be put down.

It wasn’t their fault. The human body wasn’t really built to withstand changes like that and when it happened … well, there had been several cases where the defence had tried to claim temporary insanity, but the judgements were all the same.

Without a sponsor to control the situation … there was only one outcome.

“It’s a vampire bite; you can relax, Doctor,” I said, with my best professional smile.

It was the smile the Elite taught us to use in any situation that involved civilians. The “don’t worry, everything is under control” smile.

It was usually utter bullshit.

“You lost quite a lot of blood. The bite nicked one of the deeper veins in your arm, a little longer and the outcome might not have been in your favour.”

What little blood I had left, I felt drain from my face. I’d been stupid and careless. And without knowing it, I had been close to dying. Was that the vamp’s plan all along? To turn me, to make me like him?

It didn’t make a whole lot of sense and I couldn’t see a good reason why he would want to turn me.

“We’ve treated the wound and started you on a short course of antibiotics, just to cover you. If this wasn’t a planned bite, then it’s better to be safe than sorry. And we’ve put some stitches in the arm….”

I lifted my hand and stared down at the bulky white bandage that covered my arm from above my elbow down as far as my wrist. The combination of stitches and the bandage really wasn’t going to make my job any easier.

Would I still be able to draw my gun?

I shuffled to the edge of the bed and swung my legs down onto the floor. The world ran in brightly coloured streamers and I dug my fingers into the thin sterile mattress beneath me. If I fell out of the bed, then I definitely wasn’t going to be allowed to leave.

“Ms. Morgan, what are you doing? I must ask you to get back into the bed; you’ve suffered a severe trauma tonight, you need to rest.” The panic in the doctor’s voice made me smile, but it didn’t stop me.

“Nope, I need to leave.” I slid down to the floor, keeping a tight grip on the bed as I let my body adjust to its new upright position.

“I must insist,” she said, placing her hand on my good arm in an attempt to guide me gently back into the bed.

“I’m a member of the Elite. I’m not getting back into bed. I’m working an ongoing investigation and I do not have time for
rest.
” I put as much emphasis as I could on the word rest without trying to make it sound as though I was mocking her.

But none of it was a lie. I had work to do, and hanging around in a hospital bed wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Of course, I wasn’t really going to get anywhere tonight anyway; there were no leads to chase down. No tracks to pick up. Most of what I would do could wait until the morning…. Well, the couple of hours left until morning, anyway.

“The clothes I was wearing when I came in, where are they?” I said, scanning the bare hospital room.

“We got rid of them, it’s our policy.”

“So what I am supposed to wear when I leave?” I asked, shooting a confused glance in her direction.

“You’re not supposed to leave yet, but when you’re discharged, we can call someone to bring you some clothes and….”

I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

“There is no way I’m spending the night in hospital; I just won’t do it. I told you already, I need to get out of here to work my case. I don’t have time for this,” I said, gesturing to the room around me. “Is there somewhere I can make a phone call?”

She nodded and pointed out the door to the nurses’ station across from my room. “You can call out from the desk.”

“Thanks,” I said, wrapping the loose-fitting hospital gown a little tighter around my body. The world did not need me flashing my ass in its face.

Crossing the hall to the nurses’ station, I lifted the receiver on the public phone that sat on the edge of the high pine work station. Staring down at the buttons, I sucked in a deep breath and dialled Graham’s number.

It was one of the perks of working in a small office environment; I didn’t know his private number, but I did have the emergency line number and his extension.

Standing in the hall, I pressed the phone tight to my ear and listened to it ring and ring. When he finally picked up, Graham’s voice was almost unrecognisable; he’d been asleep.

“Yeah,” he said groggily.

“Graham, I need you to come pick me up from Constance Memorial.”

“What happened?” his voice snapped back and suddenly all the grogginess of sleep was gone, replaced by an alertness that only a cop could manage.

“It’s a long story, I’ll explain when you get here. And Graham,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“Bring me some clothes. If I have to spend one more second in a goddamned hospital gown I’m going to lose my mind.”

His muffled snort of laughter did nothing to ease the knot of tension in my chest and I slammed the phone down. Naturally, the sight of the white hospital gown fluttering beneath the air-conditioning unit did absolutely nothing to help my mood. If Graham didn’t get his ass over here pronto, I was going to flip.