Dawn of a Dark Knight (8 page)

“I’ve got to see my friend before we go.”

“He gave me his wristband, if that’s your concern. Please, I need to get you out of here. We’re in a bit of a time crunch.”

The magus nodded. He pretended to use her as a crutch, but didn’t apply much of his weight. He dwarfed her by more than a foot of solid muscle making her five foot five seem insignificant.

Susan yelled, “Hey, he’s not allowed to leave the bed!”

“He woke up and has to use the restroom. Most of his injuries were superficial, and the bleeding appears to have stopped.”

Susan glared disapproval before returning to a patient a few beds down.

In the hallway, they encountered three nurses-in-training. The girls in their cutesy print scrubs openly gaped. Kira rolled her eyes when the one with little rubber duckies on her scrub top batted her eyelashes and shot him a blatant invitation to join him in the restroom. She may agree this guy qualified as eye candy, but strangely, as gorgeous as he may be, she felt no sexual attraction toward him.

He threw the girls a rakish smile.

“Don’t you ladies have things to do?” She tugged the magus toward the bathroom and mumbled, “Stop encouraging them. Get in there and try to clean up a bit. I’ll be right back once I find you something to wear.”

“Jealous?” He shot her a cocky smile as he entered the single stall restroom.

“Hardly” she tossed over her shoulder. Her best bet was the stock room down the hall. In it were some worn, but clean, green XXL scrubs that proclaimed
Hospital Property
across the front. Returning to the restroom, she knocked. He answered, naked.

“What if it hadn’t been me?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“If it had been that nurse from the ward, you’d probably have to give her CPR over the fact you’re healed. ’Course, you’d probably love it, wouldn’t you?” She eyed the puckered lines of scarring that remained as the only evidence of his previous wounds.
Amazing,
thought the medically trained side of her.

“She’s not my type. I knew it was you.”

“Here. Get dressed.”

Seconds later he emerged.

She frowned at his feet. “Sorry, but I don’t have any shoes for you. Follow me. Please, try not to attract too much attention.”

“I’ll protect you, Doc. Lead on.”

Commotion reigned in the ER. People rushed madly about to assist at least seven trauma victims simultaneously. In the middle of their trek through the room, acute, piercing pain lanced her stomach. Moaning, she grabbed her midsection and halted.

The magus pushed her toward the treatment room exit. By the time they got there, she was breathless and a few tears had sprung from her eyes.

Kira, where are you?

She stumbled against the corridor wall just outside the ER, needing its support. Her stomach clenched. Relief and absolute exhilaration washed over her in reaction to the timbre of Ashor’s voice. He wasn’t dead. And she hadn’t imagined it before. She had to get to him ASAP. This pain had to stop.

She closed her eyes to block out the chaos running around them and focused on telepathic speaking.
Ashor, what are they doing to you? Where are you?

“What’s wrong with you?” the blond magus demanded.

She gasped when pain stabbed her chest again. Abruptly, it disappeared. She glanced up at the blond warrior. He was her ticket to get to Ashor. Somehow, she had to convince him to let her into his secret world.

“Can all you guys speak to each other in your head?”

The magus’s jaw went slack with a startled
say-what
before his lips turned upward into a grin. “Fascinating. Which one of us speaking to you?”

“I don’t trust you. I may know what you are, but I don’t even know your name. And I definitely don’t know that you are one of them for sure.”

“Smart. I like that.” His focus shifted to a closed door at the end of the hall. He went hostile. “They’re here, Doc. Fastest way out?” the blond magus demanded.

“Stairs at the end of the hall. Down and outside.” She waved weakly toward the end of hall. She’d never fainted, but suspected the vague dizziness in her head was a prelude.

“You go. I’ll just rest here for a bit.” She put her hand against the wall for support.

The magus clamped down on her wrist and dragged her to the stairs. Once to the door, he threw her over his shoulder and descended.

“Not helping the vertigo. Put me down. I can do this on my own.”

“Quiet.”

At the lowest level, he dropped her to a sit. A shiver tickled her spine in reaction to the malevolent auras that had just entered the stairwell above.

She whispered, “They’re up there.”

“Stay,” he ordered over his shoulder as he ran back up.

The sound of flesh impacting and grunts drifted from above. A body thudded down the stairs, coming to rest on the landing one floor up. Unable to resist a peek, she edged around the corner. Based on the angle of the guy’s neck, he was dead. Muted sounds of the struggle echoed in the stairwell. That magus was down several pints of blood and without shoes. Definite disadvantage.

Maybe she could help. She searched the dead man for something useful. All she found was a brutal-looking knife with a five-inch curved blade. She gripped the weapon and tiptoed to next level. An aura scan revealed only two malicious male auras and the magus.

A quick peek showed the magus had a gash on his forehead from which a river of blood streamed down his face. A Hashishin with a sickly yellow pallor made more pronounced by his receding brown hairline restrained the magus in a chokehold from behind. A second Hashishin of about her height and a thickly muscled frame chanted foreign words while he prepared to carve in the magus’s chest.

The small hairs on the back of her neck rose in reaction to the evil energy spreading in the air. His chanting crescendoed and climaxed with a surge of vicious energy. It bounced off the magus.

Amateurs.
Guess they missed the memo on magi immunity to dark-magik spells.

Despite the futility of the spell, the Hashishins looked to be seconds away from eviscerating the only person that could locate Ashor for her. The knife felt heavy in her hands as she turned it.

Without hesitation, she moved behind the would-be carver. With a quick jab, she angled the knife straight down behind his collarbone toward his subclavian artery. The man latched onto her wrist upon withdrawal. Cold burning traveled up her arm at the contact. A snake slithered from his sleeve and wrapped around her wrist. The Hashishin unexpectedly let go and fell over.

She screamed as the manifestation of her worst nightmare continued its twirling trek up her arm.

The magus slammed his choker-attacker into the wall. He pulled his assailant’s head forward. With a pop, the man’s luxated vertebrae echoed in the hall. The magus didn’t turn to watch the body fall. He grabbed the snake and twisted the head off its still writhing body. With a careless toss, viper parts slammed against the wall.

“I thought I told you to stay,” he thundered.

“Sounded like you needed some help.”

“I was fine. Let’s go.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her downstairs.

Outside, she shivered in the icy air and hugged her arms to her body. She jogged beside the silent magus to the parking deck. Even shoeless in the wimpy scrubs, he didn’t look at all affected by the arctic chill.

Her silver nineties Japanese coupe sat like a rotten egg among German beauties in the staff section on the third level. Thank God for the hide-a-key box. Finally, her paranoia about locking her keys in the car was about to pay off.

The magus cursed when he whacked his head on the passenger door in his haste to claim the seat. He held his hand against renewed bleeding on his forehead.

“Can you please try not to bleed all over my car? Here, use this.” She pulled a towel out of the laundry bag in the back seat. Guess she wasn’t going to make the coin laundry tonight. “I haven’t got enough left right now to heal that laceration and drive.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Before she started the car, she handed him the wristband weighing down her lab coat. The heated energy coming off the item felt to be burning a hole in her side.

“Thanks, Doc.”

After a few minutes of tense silence while she maneuvered the lower levels of the parking deck, she asked, “You got a name?”

“Eric.”

“Eric, I hope you don’t misinterpret that little healing thing I did. I have no interest in being recruited into your world. So, don’t try it. I do need you to promise me something.”

“What?”

“Swear you won’t tell anyone about this little episode, and then we’ll both forget it ever happened.”

“What? Okay, whatever. I will never reveal this to anyone who would seek to harm you. But I won’t forget. You do know that you belong with us?”

“I can assure you I don’t
belong
to you guys.” A spike of pain detonated in her head. Kira swerved the car onto the median and threw it in park.

She rubbed her forehead. “God, Ashor. This has got to stop.”

I need you here,
Ashor commanded.

“What the hell are you saying?” Eric asked.

Unintentionally, she responded to Ashor’s request aloud. “Yeah, I got the message loud and clear over a half hour ago. I’m trying to get to wherever you are.”

Something twisted inside her abdomen for several agonizing seconds. Then nothing. Gone as abruptly as it began.

With a relieved sigh, she shifted the car back in gear.

Eric grabbed the gearshift. “Oh, no, you don’t. What was that? What’s wrong with you?”

Her face heated when she realized she’d spoken aloud. This telepathy thing was going to take more practice. Eric, however, wasn’t throwing the you’ve-gone-crazy glare, the one Markus gave her all the time.

“I need your help to get to Ashor. He’s in some sort of trouble.”

“Is he communicating with you? Is that what just went down?” Eric tapped his head.

She glanced at him from her peripheral. He leaned forward with a too-keen wide-eye. She gave a quick nod.

After an eternity of silence he relinquished his hold on the gearshift. “Okay. I’ll take you to him. But if you’re fucking with me, I’ll kill you.” Then his tone relaxed, “Got a cell on you?”

“No.”

“Pull into the closest gas station. Fill up while I use the pay phone.”

“I don’t have my wallet and unless you have a credit card shoved up your ass, I think we’re penniless.”

Eric smiled and winked. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t fret.”

She watched Eric saunter into the Speedy Mart, grab a sixteen-ounce soda and approach the empty checkout. He laughed with the forty-something fake-redheaded clerk for a few seconds. She blinked twice to double-check her visual acuity when money levitated out of the cash drawer, around the counter, and into his hands. Smooth trick.

He strolled back to the car and leaned into the driver’s window as she rolled it down. He said, “Fill ’er up. We got credit.”

“Lemon soda? That stuff is disgusting.”

“What, not even interested in how I paid?” His face lit up like a jittery teenager with a burning secret.

She shrugged.

His shoulders fell with a scowl. He tossed the soda onto the passenger seat through her window. With an abrupt turn, he stomped to the pay phone.

Minutes later he was back at the driver’s side window. His brows were low. His tone subdued when he reported, “They’ve taken Ashor back to Florida. It’s not good. Why don’t you let me drive in case you have one of your episodes.”

“Back to Florida again?”

“What do you mean
again
?”

“I may have been there recently. What’s wrong with him?”

Eric ignored her and hopped into the driver’s seat. He cranked the car and placed a heavy foot on the accelerator. With a lurch, the car pulled away from the gas pump, cutting off a flatbed truck. The truck’s horn blared and its driver threw Eric the bird. Eric slammed the brakes and then punched the accelerator again.

Kira whiplashed against the passenger seat. She tugged at the now-locked seatbelt and glared daggers. Eric didn’t care. Mad laughter bubbled from him a second before he pulled recklessly in front of a fast-approaching semi. Kira gripped the door and prayed they’d make it to Florida alive.

Chapter Six

“Terek, one of them is dead. I searched the body and he has nothing of interest on him. The other is gone.”

Terek slammed his fist on his desk and yelled into his office phone, “You reported the magi to be guaranteed dead men when they went into the hospital. How was one able to miraculously leave, Theo?”

“The nurse attending him says the guy was expected to die. Sounds like he was unconscious and bleeding out. A doctor the nurse didn’t know came in and looked him over. Seems he woke up during the exam. Somehow he walked out with this doctor and never returned.”

“What’s the doctor’s name?”

“Don’t know. I know only that this doctor was a woman. The magus killed three of my men.”

“A half-dead magus killed three? You haven’t been this incompetent in years.”

“Yes, sir. Didn’t expect this. This doctor must’ve done something to him.”

“Have you arranged a cleaner for your men?”

“The bodies will be properly cared for, as usual.”

“Find the doctor.”

“No one seems to have seen anything due to some incident involving a bus. There’s a lot of chaos. Really piss-poor timing. I need to review the security tapes to get her image. Do you have a contact that can get access for me?”

“I’ll have Kiersted phone you with further instructions within the hour. Bring her to me.”

“I’ll take care of it, sir. By the way, last night’s attempt to ambush the magus who’s been stalking us failed.”

Terek sighed loudly. “I warned you not to go after him. How many are dead?”

“Seven.”

“Next time you get the itch to act without authorization, don’t.”

“Yes, sir. However, his random attacks are demoralizing the recruits. I felt we had to do something.”

“There are plans in progress to take the magi out of the picture. For now, stay out of his path. I’ll take care of him when the time is right.”