Fairy Magic (12 page)

“The armies of demons are strongest at night. In the afternoon, they are weakest. We will strike after the sun reaches its zenith.”

“How will you do it?”

“I prefer the straightforward approach,” he declared, and she was certain he wasn’t just talking about fighting warlords. “We will blow up the castle with Valin and his army inside of it.”

“And where will you get that kind of firepower?”

He folded his arms across his chest. Her gaze traced the contours of his torso. God, he was a beast. Maybe he was planning on punching through the stone gate.

“You’re the firepower?” Naomi asked. She’d only been kidding about him punching through the gate. Ok, maybe only half kidding.

“Yes, me,” he confirmed.

“You want to take down a castle?”

His wide shoulders rolled back. “I’ve done it before.”

“How many times?”

He held up five fingers.

Naomi gaped. Well, she did ask. “How…will you do it?”

“An earthquake.”

“An earthquake?”

A smirk curled his lips. “That’s when the ground shakes.”

“I know what an earthquake is,” she snapped.

“Oh? You looked confused.”

“I’m only confused about how you could possibly have enough power to take down an entire castle.”

“Back on earth, I did have that power. But here.” He shook his head. “Here, I need help.” He pulled a pendant from his pocket, swinging it in front of his eyes. The gem dangling from the chain was glowing, swirling like a hurricane had been bottled up inside of that stone.
 

“There is magic inside that gem?” she asked.

“A lot of magic,” he confirmed. “It’s protected. When I need to cast the earthquake, I will break the gem’s seal and absorb the magic in there to power my spell.” He set the pendant into her hand.

She looked down at the gem, watching the swirl of magic inside of it. Whatever was holding it in there had dampened the song of its magic into a soft hum.

“It’s something I’ve been saving for a special occasion,” Makani said.

“Well, taking out a demon’s warlord sounds like a special occasion to me.”

“Yes,” he agreed, his hand brushing against hers as he took the pendant back. He lifted the chain over his head, the dark metal nearly fading into his magical tattoos.

“Maybe you should wear armor when going into battle,” she teased.

“And what armor do you think would be fitting to take out a demon’s army? Medieval armor?” He smirked.

“A t-shirt?” She smiled. “I can pick one up for you the next time I pop back to earth.”

Magic swirled in his eyes, as dangerous as that contained inside the pendant’s gemstone. “One of these days, someone’s going to nip the joke right off your tongue.”

“You?” she challenged.

“Is that a request?”

“Do you like being punched in the head?” she shot back.

He laughed. “Do you know what I think?” He moved in closer. “I think you would be more comfortable if you were wearing less too.” His hand traced the thin strap of her top. “I can help you with that.”

“No, thanks. I can undress myself.”

Magic and amusement ignited in his eyes. Apparently, he found her statement enormously funny.

“So blowing up castles, you say?” she said quickly, bowing out again. Dragon prince: 2, Naomi: 0. This sure was going well. And because she just couldn’t control her mouth, she continued to taunt him. “Sure you’re up to the challenge?”

“The question you should be asking is if you’re up to the challenge of coming with us,” he told her. “Or are you afraid?”

“I’m not afraid of anything,” she insisted. “Well, except for vampire clowns. They freak the hell out of me.”

His eyes burned into hers, as though he could scrape away every mystery hidden within her. “When you’re nervous, you babble. Do I make you nervous, my lady?”

She stared up into his eyes, trying not to think about how close his body was to hers. “No.”

Her heart was thumping so hard against her chest that she was sure he could feel it too. Of course she was nervous. No, not just nervous. She was afraid. Afraid of him. Of how his presence scrambled her brain. Of how her hard-earned control slipped through her fingers like water. Next to the dragon prince, the army of demon worshippers were like a pack of smiling bunnies.

She clawed her way back to sanity. “How do we get close enough to the warlord to take down the castle?”

“I thought you didn’t want to help.” Victory danced in the dragon’s eyes.

“Well, uh, I’m here right now, so I might as well make myself useful, considering your cause is just.” She cleared her throat. “How do we get to the castle? How do we make it through all those defenses? Or do you not have an actual plan besides being terrifying?”

“I assure you, my lady, that I do have a plan,” he replied smoothly. “And it will work.”

“I guess modesty hadn’t been invented yet in the 14
th
century.”

He looked at her like a beast. Like a dragon. She tried not to quiver under his hard primal stare, the look of a dragon drenched in the war cloak of hell. His magic simmered just beneath the surface—tempting, dark, seductive, powerful. She was getting lightheaded just drinking it in. So this must be what it felt like for Sera and Alex. No wonder they often looked like they were getting high on magic. Naomi drank in more of Makani’s magic, unable to control herself. It was just too damn delicious.

She tried to focus, to see past the burning need to bathe in his aura. “You have powerful magic.”

“So do you,” he replied. “Even though you’re not all the way here. Not really.”

Naomi reached out and touched his arm. “It feels real,” she said, her voice thick in her throat.

Touching him was definitely not a good idea. In fact, just being around him was unraveling her self-control faster than she could put it back up again. Worst of all, a part of her didn’t even want to put it back up again. That was the frightening truth. It was so wrong, so backwards. She was always in control. She was the one who made other people lose control. Not the other way around.

Makani was close. Too close. He was so massive, so incredibly overwhelming. As his hand traced up her neck, stirring up fear and excitement, he leaned into her. She leaned in too, her head swimming with the intoxicating cocktail of his magic. His nose brushed against her hair, inhaling her scent.

“Naomi,” he said, magic swirling in his eyes as they met hers. A dark and savage need burned inside of them.

She wanted him too, more than she’d ever wanted to kiss anyone. Every thread of her being was pulling her toward him. His lips brushed her neck in a soft caress too gentle to satisfy her. She pulled against his head, drawing his mouth toward hers.
 

“Your magic is beautiful. It smells positively intoxicating.” His lips brushed past hers teasingly. “I bet it tastes good too.”

“Don’t you want to find out?”

“Yes.” His hand locked around her arms, pressing her against a tree. “Even though only part of you is here, your magic is magnificent. I can’t wait to feel all of you,” he whispered against her lips. “I haven’t sensed this kind of magic in seven hundred years.”

“You know what I am?”

“A Spirit Warrior.”

“Yes.”

“So you finally figured it out.” He nodded. “Good.”

“You knew?”

“I suspected it from the first moment I sensed your magic. And you kept popping in and out of the spirit realm, yet your body had substance.” His hand stroked down her arm. “My suspicions were confirmed when you disappeared from my chains.”

“So that was what you meant by a test.”

“Of course.” A sexy, tempting smile twisted his lips. “Or did you think I liked to tie people up inside my tent?”

“Oh, I think you are very much the type.”

He smirked at her. Something about that smirk made her uneasy, like he could see right through her pretenses and pretty fairy girl act. So she decided to turn the focus away from herself.

“And you’re Dragon Born,” she declared.

As he pulled away, she bit down a moan of protest.

“You’re afraid of me,” he said, frowning.

“No, other people are. I’m not.” Ok, so that was a lie. She
was
afraid. But not because he was Dragon Born.

“You should be afraid,” he told her. “The Dragon Born are dangerous. Our magic is dangerous.”

“I have two Dragon Born friends. They are good people.”

Pain twisted his mouth.

“The world thinks you are monsters, but you are not monsters,” she told him.

“Some of us are. I didn’t think I was…” He drew in a deep breath. “But this place changes you. It makes monsters of men. And of dragons.”

“Do your friends know?”

“Yes,” he replied. “They know. In hell, people follow monsters. It’s safer than following the weak. It’s dangerous here.”

“Because of the demons?”

“Because of the demons and the otherworldly, yes. But also because of the living. In some ways, we have the most potential for destruction of everyone. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.”

“You’re talking about the criminals the Magic Council banished to hell.”

“This place is a prison,” he said. “A living tomb of ill intentions and corrupted souls.”

“Did the Council banish you here?”

His laugh was without humor—without hope. “The Council doesn’t banish the Dragon Born. They exterminate us.”

“How did you end up here then?”

He stood in silence for a moment, then shook his head and said, “It doesn’t matter. The past doesn’t matter. Only what’s happening now does. Come with me.” He turned, waving for her to follow.

Naomi took a step, but before her foot hit the ground, she was ripped from the spirit realm.

* * *

Being hurled back to earth tore Naomi from sleep. She awoke in Gran’s library. Sun filtered in through the gauzy blue curtains over the windows. She glanced down at her watch. It was past noon. She’d slept so long. If you could call tromping through the spirit realm sleeping. Someone had pulled a blanket over her while she was unconscious. The book she’d been reading before she fell asleep lay on the coffee table.

Naomi rose to her feet, stretching out her tired muscles. Eva and Marek had already left, and so had Gran. She lifted a folded note from the table. It told her that they’d all gone to the Magic Council meeting.

Naomi gathered her weapons, slipped into her shoes, and went outside. She headed for the subway station. Along the way, people stared at her. Apparently, they didn’t often see a woman in an evening gown walking around in the afternoon armed with a crossbow, a sword, and a collection of knives. Naomi winked and smiled at them. A few of the men waved back. An elderly woman with two toddlers didn’t react as favorably. She grabbed her grandchildren’s hands and hurried off in the opposite direction. Naomi sighed. You really couldn’t please everyone.

A cloaked man slid out from behind a brick building, magic whirling at his back. The hood dropped from his head, revealing the face of the dark fairy who had attacked her last night—or, as Gran had told her, the Dragon Guard fairy.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” she demanded.

His face remained perfectly serene. “I linked you with someone.”

“Makani.”

“So you’ve seen him. Good. Very good.” He nodded. “Now you must hurry and get to him. You must save him from hell.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“Oh, I know it’s not. I have searched a long time for someone with your magic. Someone who could make this possible. And now you must hurry.”

“I’m trying,” she said. “If you’re in such a hurry, then get him out yourself. You’re a Dragon Guard. It’s your duty to protect the Dragon Born.”

“You misunderstand. I am saying this for your own good. The longer you wait, the longer you stay away from him, the more you’ll be stuck between realms. The more you will bounce back and forth between both earth and the spirit realm, existing in both—and yet in neither. People have been known to go mad from such things.”

“Mad?” she demanded, fury burning her tongue.

“Yes, it’s an unfortunate side effect of the linking spell. The only way to get unstuck is for you—the whole you—to be there with him.”

“You had no right to do this without asking me.”

He blinked back his confusion. “You might have said no.”

Damn dark fairies.

“Or I might have said yes,” she told him.

“You’re the only one who can get him out. I’m not taking any chances. Besides, I’m doing you a favor. If not for me, you would have never realized your true power as a Spirit Warrior. Tell me. Doesn’t all that power feel good? Doesn’t it make you feel alive?”

“I only have that power when I’m surrounded by dead people. So, no, it doesn’t make me feel alive,” she said.

That wasn’t completely true, though. It did feel good to be able to blast away anyone who tried to hurt her—and anyone who tried to hurt others. She could save people. She could protect them. That was the best gift she could ask for. Not that she was going to admit that to the psychopath who was playing mind games with her.

He smiled, as though he knew what was going on inside of her head. “You like being a hero,” he said. “You like saving others. You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

“Yeah, I’m hopeless. So you see? There was no need to manipulate me into anything.”

“The link serves another purpose,” he told her. “It allows you to track him. The underworld is a big place. Finding Makani would have been difficult without this link. You’re welcome.”

Dark fairies liked to manipulate you into doing exactly what they wanted, then tell you they were doing you a favor.

“Time is short,” he said. “You gave up too easily at the palace. You need to go back. You need to save him. Go down into the basement. That’s where you’ll find the tear to the spirit realm.”

“So that’s how the prisoners from the spirit realm escaped?”

“Yes, when your friend Sera sent that demon back to hell, she ruptured the veil between earth and the spirit realm. Small tears formed throughout the world, allowing people to escape from the first circle of hell. One of these tears is beneath Nymphenburg Palace.”