Fairy Magic (10 page)

“You would do anything to protect them?” she asked.

“Anything.”

“Then why did you look ready to murder them just a few minutes ago?”

“They nearly killed you.”

“Oh, you’re that fond of me already?”

“You are the key to saving us.”

Huh?

He didn’t explain further. “The demons are weakest here in Europe. If we push them out, we can set up a safe area. We can show those who have given up that they don’t have to live in fear, that the demons are not gods. That they can be defeated.”

“And the rest of the world?” she asked. “Can you drive their armies out of the second circle entirely?”

“That will be more complicated. Especially in the Pacific, my home territory.”

“You mentioned before that you were once the Prince of the Pacific.”

“Yes. And those areas—Australia, Indonesia, the Polynesian Islands, Hawaii, the whole Ring of Fire basically—is now a demon stronghold. I tried to fight them there, but their influence is too strong. I can’t take them out there, at least not yet. So I came to Europe, where I could fight the battle against them. She would have liked that.”

“She?”

He shook his head. “I will make it right.” He folded his arms across his chest and looked at her. “You will help me make it right.”

She realized that they’d stopped moving—and that they were inside of his tent again. She was right back where he wanted her.

“You have a power over people,” she said, frowning.

“You have a similar power.”

“Oh no. You and I are completely different.”

“Do tell,” he said, amusement touching his lips.

“I flirt and smile and am nice and charming to people. You scare them shitless, making them want to submit to your authority because you’re the scariest beast around and they figure no one can hurt them as long as they stick with you.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “There’s more to it than that.”

“Oh? If you’re not wielding dark magic, then how do you make people do as you say just like that?”

“Perhaps it’s the mark of a true leader.” His lip twitched.

Naomi smiled. “Cut the crap, Your Majesty.”

Damn, she was on edge. He did that to her. She should be flirting with him to get answers out of him, not losing control of the situation with every sentence that she uttered. Makani smirked at her like he knew what she was thinking. She decided that he liked making her uneasy.

“Very well,” he said. “My power to influence people is not entirely mundane. There’s some small magic behind it. I’ll tell you the secret. Let’s call that magic ‘charisma’.” Then the smug bastard had the audacity to wink at her.

She threw up her hands, blocking him as he stepped forward. That didn’t stop him. He kept moving, even as his chest pressed against her hands.

“Stay back. I’m not going to let you tie me up again,” she said.

A slow, sexy smile twisted his lips as his eyes slid down the length of her. “You couldn’t stop me if I decided to tie you up.”

“Want to bet?” she said, reaching for her sword.

His hand closed over hers. “Relax. I’m not going to tie you up. While it might be fun for a while, you will eventually just pop out of here again. And besides, I need your help.”

“Why do I feel like you are telling, not asking?”

He shot her a smile so innocent it was wicked. “Because of my power to make you want to help me? Or perhaps your nature to protect people is just kicking in.”

Damn him. He’d had her pegged from the moment they’d met. The worst part about this whole thing was she wasn’t sure if she felt compelled to help him because of his scary magical power to control people or because she just couldn’t help herself when there was someone to save.

“I already have a mission,” she told him.

His dark brows lifted. “Then why are you here?”

“Not by choice. I keep popping back here.”

“Because you want to be here.”

She sighed. “No, because a dark fairy spelled me and I keep coming back.”

He leaned in to whisper against her ear. “You don’t understand your own magic or what you are, do you?”

“What do you think I am?”

“You want to be here,” he told her. “Here helping us. Here with me.”

She took a step back, but he was too fast. He already had her hand. He flipped it over.

“You’re bleeding.”

Naomi looked down and saw that he was right. “Your minions couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.”

“You bring that out in people.” He gave her such a wicked look that her heart almost stalled. “Our cause is worthy. We have already taken out a dozen warlords in this circle of hell. Bael’s warlord is the next. I will destroy Valin’s fortress and everyone in it, then Europe will be one step closer to being free from demon rule.”

“How many warlords are left in Europe?”

“Dozens more.”

“Dozens?” she asked, her mouth dropping in shock.

“In other areas, there are even more. The demons want to control every circle of the spirit realm. They want everyone here doing their bidding, fighting and dying in their war of dominance. They will continue to do this until one of them comes out on top. And then they will turn their attention to earth. So, you see, our goals are very much aligned.”

A shiver cut down her spine. “That’s terrible. How do we stop them?”

He smiled. Shit. He was manipulating her into helping him.

“How can I possibly help you?” she asked. “I am weak.”

“No, your magic is exactly what we need. Here it is the best weapon we could have. So deadly, and yet so beautiful. So pure.” His hand stroked down her arm, trailing magic that shouldn’t have existed in hell, the place where magic died.

“How do you still have magic?” she asked.

He watched her for a few moments, saying nothing. His lips parted slightly, as though he were thinking of kissing her. Just as she thought he would try it, he quickly wrapped a bandage around her bleeding hand. Then he tapped her forehead with his finger and said, “You’re trouble. Just like I said.” He dipped his mouth to hers.

Magic—hard, merciless magic—pulled at her body, tearing her from the spirit realm. And this time it was painful. This time, she really didn’t want to go.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Spirit Warrior

“WOULD YOU LIKE orange or mint tea?”

Naomi blinked, trying to refocus her vision. After the harsh bite of the spirit realm, earth’s soft and fluffy air was almost suffocating. Gran stared down at her, holding a shiny tin tea canister in each hand. She might have been her and Eva’s grandmother, but the woman before them didn’t look a day over thirty. Her pale blonde hair, streaked with pink and purple and blue strands, was tied up into a pair of cute braids pinned to her head. Her eyes were the blue-purple color of the deep ocean. She was one of the everlasting fairies. They weren’t immortal, but they were blessed with long life. She was nearly one hundred years old.

Not only did Gran look young, she dressed young. Right now, she was wearing a chocolate-brown spaghetti strap top and a beige miniskirt with a loose brown belt over her hips. Her matching leather boots were knee-high and had heels only runway models and fairies were brave enough to walk in.

“Orange tea,” Naomi said, pointing to the golden canister with a picture of a fairy standing naked in a grove of orange trees.

As soon as she made the choice, she realized she’d picked orange because it reminded her of the rebel camp. Of Makani. She wanted to be back there. Every thread of her magic was screaming for her to return. What dark magic was this?

“You three have got yourselves into quite a bind, haven’t you?” said Gran. “Darksire, Firestorm, criminals from hell escaping.” She sighed, handing out the teacups.

“That’s our life,” replied Naomi. “Don’t you miss it?”

Gran chuckled. “Sometimes.” She set down a bowl of cookies.

Naomi took one, still thinking about Makani and his band of rebels in the underworld. Whatever she did, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she belonged there.

Proving her mind was as sharp as her body, Gran said, “What’s troubling you, Naomi?”

“Not what,” Eva told her. “Who.” She winked at Naomi. “You’re seeing that dreamy man again, aren’t you?”

“Dreamy man?” Gran asked, perking up with interest.

When the topic was boys, Gran was always ready to talk. Grandfather knew nothing of her extensive collection of Mages Illustrated magazines. Kai Drachenburg’s cover was probably in there too. Naomi wondered if Gran had ever asked Kai to sign his photo. They knew each other from the Magic Council meetings. He sat on the Council, and she consulted for them.

Actually, no, Naomi didn’t need to wonder. She was
sure
Gran had asked him—probably in front of the whole Magic Council. She’d always been bold, even for a fairy. Naomi wished she’d been there, if only to see the expression on Kai’s face as he tried to remind himself that he couldn’t turn into a dragon and step on one of his Council’s most important consultants.

Naomi cleared her throat. “It’s not just the dreamy man, Gran. A dark fairy attacked me earlier tonight. Since then, I’ve been having visions of the spirit realm.”

“What kind of visions?” Gran asked.

“Visions of myself there, walking around as though I’m really there, as though it’s as real as here.”

“And this man you saw?”

“He was once a prince.” Naomi ignored Eva as she pretended to swoon. “He’s been trapped there for centuries. Hell drains magic, right? But he is still so powerful, even seven hundred years later. There’s a war being raged in hell against demons, and he is leading the charge. People follow him. They can’t help but to do it. He’s so…”

“Sexy?” Eva said, smirking.

“Overwhelming,” amended Naomi. Makani was so much more than sexy. “Standing before him is like standing naked before a volcano. It’s so big, so magnificent, but if it goes off, there’s no chance you’d survive.”

“This prince and his war against the demons sounds even better than that book you loaned me last week,” Eva commented. “The one with the god of war and the warrior priestess he fell in love with.”

Marek rolled his eyes.

Eva poked him in the chest. “You have no right to make fun of my reading tastes, Marek. I saw your collection of Mages Illustrated magazines.”

“The articles are educational.”

Eva laughed. “Funny how you’ve decided that the only educational articles are inside the issues with half-naked women on the cover.”

“I learn better from a pretty woman.”

He squeezed her side, which sent her into a fit of giggles. She tried to pull away, but his hand locked around her arm, holding her as his tickling intensified.

Gran smiled warmly at them. “I’m glad you two could work things out.” She turned that smile on Naomi. “Now, how can I help you find your handsome prince?”

“It’s not like that. I think I’m meant to help him, and he’s meant to help me. I’m not sure how I know this, but I do.”

“Magic works in mysterious ways,” replied Gran. “Ways we often do not understand. Tell me exactly what happened with the dark fairy who attacked you.”

“It happened as I was leaving Spitfire. He attacked with powerful magic, old and dark magic. I fought him off for a while, but he eventually trapped me inside a net of black magic. Glowing blue symbols burst from my skin, kind of like glyphs, then the symbols faded out. He said, ‘you are just the person for the job’ to me. Then I felt myself being ripped away. I went to the spirit realm. That’s where I met him.”

“The prince?” Gran asked.

Naomi nodded. “He told me about what was happening there with the demons and their war.”

Gran stirred her tea in slow, even circles. “And how many times have you returned to the spirit realm?”

“I’ve been there three times.”

“Three times just tonight?”

“Yes.”

Gran set down her spoon. “That fairy was in a righteous hurry, he was.”

She stood and walked over to one of her cabinets. She pulled a few glass jars of magical herbs from the shelves, then popped open the lids and set them down on the coffee table.

“Incense?” Naomi asked, leaning forward to stare into the open jars of darkened sticks. She inhaled. “Evening Rose, lilacs, mint, and a touch of Fairy Lily. Trying to drug me, Gran?”

Gran snickered. “Not this time, dear.”

She pulled out a lighter, touching the flame to the dried sticks. She began to chant, and a warm tingle tickled Naomi’s skin. As Gran’s chanting grew louder, the tingle burned hotter. Symbols appeared on Naomi’s skin, glowing blue and brilliant—just as they had after the dark fairy’s attack.

Gran stopped chanting, her gaze sliding across Naomi’s arms. “A spell has been woven into your skin.” Her eyes narrowed. “This is old magic. Magic I’ve read about but never seen.”

“So you know what it means?” Naomi asked.

Gran hurried to her bookshelf. Her hand darted out and she pulled a book off the shelf, quickly flipping to a page. She always knew exactly where to find everything in her books.

“Here,” Gran said, handing her the open book.

Naomi looked down at it, staring into a page covered in symbols exactly like the ones on her skin.

“This is magic used by an ancient order of fairies,” Gran told her. “No one thought they were around anymore.” Gran flipped the page, tapping her long fingernail against an emblem of two dragons with a pattern of five stars in the center. “The fairy who attached you is a member of the order called the Dragon Guard. Only they used the kind of magic glowing on your skin. The Dragon Guard were dark fairies with powerful magic. They were the trusted allies of the Dragon Born before the Purge.”

Gran flipped past a few more pages to an illustration of a Dragon Guard fairy standing back-to-back with a Dragon Born mage. Naomi recognized the tattoos on the Dragon Born mage’s chest and arm. Makani had similar ones.

“What can you tell me about those?” she asked Gran, tapping her finger on the tattoos.
 

“They are fairy magic tattoos that the Dragon Guard cast on the Dragon Born mages they protected. They increase the Dragon Born’s defenses.”

Which made Makani Dragon Born, just like Sera and Alex. Naomi found herself unsurprised. After all, her magic had been telling her that all along. The Dragon Born were the most powerful mages the world had ever seen. Their magic was as deadly as it was beautiful. It was no wonder Makani had such power over people—and no wonder that she found him so unsettling.