Heartless (Blue Fire Saga) (7 page)

“Oh, I get it. That was you…your magic.” Cali’s smile widened. “Good one, Lees. You totally fooled me.”

Leesa returned Cali’s smile. “I thought you’d get a kick out of that. I’ve seen your hair blow in the wind enough times that the visual was an easy one. And hair is light, so moving it even with my magic weakened was no big deal.”

“Okay, what’s next? I gotta tell you, though, if any of the buttons on my shirt suddenly start coming undone, I’m outta here.”

“Ha! Don’t worry. You’re safe there.” Leesa smiled again as a mischievous thought popped into her head. “That wouldn’t be a bad idea to try on Rave sometime, though—except none of his shirts have buttons.”

Cali grinned. “I like the way you think, girl. That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘undressing him with your mind.’”

The two girls shared a joyous laugh.

“Back to work,” Leesa said when they stopped laughing. “Messing with your hair was fun, but since it was something I’d never done before, it doesn’t tell me whether my magic has returned to full strength.” She held out her hand, palm up. “This will, though.
Illuminati verdus
,” she chanted.

The glowing yellow light that appeared above her palm was as weak as ever. Even though she hadn’t expected anything different, she was still disappointed. One of these days, she knew from everything Dominic and Balin had told her, her magic would return to full strength, but she had no idea when that might be. She just hoped it would be sooner rather than later, because practicing the same few tricks over and over, at a lesser intensity than she was used to, was getting old. She was glad she had Cali here to help make practice more fun.

That last thought gave Leesa an idea. She got up and walked around the table until she was standing next to Cali.

“Hold out your hand,” she said.

Cali looked up at Leesa with a questioning look on her face and then held out her hand, palm up, the way Leesa always did. Leesa squatted beside Cali and put her hand directly beneath Cali’s.

“
Illuminati verdus
,” she said.

Once again, the glowing yellow sphere appeared, but this time it looked like it was coming directly out of Cali’s palm.

“Ha, ha… way cool!” Cali chortled. “I’m a freakin’ wizard!”

Leesa kept her hand where it was until the light winked out. Cali was beaming.

“Thank you, Lees. That was great. I wish I could take a picture of it with my cell and post it on Facebook!”

Leesa smiled. “That’s your idea of keeping things secret? Posting pics on Facebook?”

“Hey, don’t worry. You know I can keep a secret. But a girl can dream, can’t she?”

Leesa spent most of the next hour running through all her spells and powers, with predictably disappointing results.
Ankle weights
, she kept telling herself, reminding herself of the analogy she had come up with to help her stay motivated despite her weakened powers. She hoped that by dutifully practicing her magic even with her power diminished, that when it finally came back to full strength her progress would make an extra leap forward, much like running wearing ankle weights made running easier once the weights came off.

Cali had no such problem remaining enthusiastic. She was seeing most of Leesa’s magic for only the second time, so it was all still fresh and exciting to her. Her enthusiasm was another thing helping Leesa stay motivated.

Near the end of the practice session, Leesa gritted her teeth and got ready to practice her air shield spell, the most difficult spell in her meager arsenal so far, and the one she had yet to produce successfully even when her magic was at full strength.
Ankle weights
, she told herself again, just before she began imagining the air in front of her turning into a thick pane of unbreakable glass.

“
Bonduur
,” she said loudly, as if by sheer volume alone she could force the spell to work.

She watched as Cali pushed a pen toward her, testing whether any bit of invisible shield had materialized. When the tip of the pen easily reached her shoulder, Leesa knew it had not.

“Sorry,” Cali said. “I didn’t feel any resistance at all.”

Leesa shrugged it off. “No biggie,” she replied, reminding herself not to be disappointed by the failure. Much of magic was mental. Confidence played a big role. Early in her training, she had allowed failure experiences to affect her ability to do spells she was already good at. She was determined not to let that happen again—at least as much as she could help it.

10. DEATH IN THE DARKNESS

N
ot too far from campus, another bit of magic was also in play.

Three figures stood in the darkness of a deserted cemetery. In front of them were three freshly filled in graves, the loose dirt and sod atop them turned muddy by the storm. Two of the figures held umbrellas up against the diminishing rain. The third squatted close in front of them at the edge of one of the graves, protected from the rain by their umbrellas.

“We know the bodies were dug up here from the police reports,” Rome said to Smith and Jones. “I can sense that magic was used here, but what kind exactly, I cannot tell. It’s been too long and the traces are too faint. But it was not the kind that could reanimate the dead, of that I’m certain.”

The men thought for a moment.

“Perhaps the magic was used to unearth the bodies,” Smith suggested.

“And then the reanimation was performed elsewhere,” Jones said, finishing the thought. “Close to the dorm, most likely.”

Rome straightened up. “That seems likely. The question is why?”

“Maybe whoever did this doesn’t possess magic powerful enough to bring the bodies back to life here and then send them on their own to the campus,” Smith mused. “They may have been transported to the dorm in a vehicle of some kind.”

“Or else the spell wasn’t strong enough to last for more than a short time, and he didn’t want to start the clock until he was closer,” Jones said.

“He or she,” Rome reminded Jones. “We have no evidence either way.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to imply that a man did this.”

“In either case, I think we had best look for answers closer to the dorm,” Smith said. “If the reanimation was not performed here, then near to the dorm seems the next best bet.”

Rome popped her umbrella open. “Let’s go then.”

The three of them walked silently out of the graveyard and climbed into their SUV. In just a few minutes, they were parked outside Leesa’s dorm.

The rain had nearly stopped now, floating lightly down in what was little more than a heavy mist. The sky remained an unbroken black blanket, without a hint of the moon or any stars.

The three agents donned dark blue ball caps and headed toward the side of the building. Smith and Jones carried their unopened umbrellas with them in case the rain started up in force again. Rome left hers in the car.

When they reached the front corner of the dorm, Rome took the lead, walking slowly in a small zigzag pattern along the south side of the building, her senses alert for any signs of vestigial magic. Smith and Jones remained a few paces behind, giving her plenty of space to work. Every step by any of them produced a soggy, squishing sound.

Just outside the rear door, Rome stopped and squatted. She ran her hands slowly back and forth a foot above the sodden turf.

“Magic was performed here,” she said. “It feels about as old as the magic in the cemetery, so it’s a good bet the two are related. Once again, though, I sense no magic related to any reanimation.”

Smith looked toward the door. “Whatever was done here, I think it’s reasonable to assume that the next step occurred inside.”

He reached for the doorknob and found that the door was locked. Pulling a small black leather case from his inside jacket pocket, he withdrew a chrome lock pick and set to work. In less than a minute, the door was open and the three of them stepped inside.

“The zombies ended up on the third floor,” Jones said. “Let’s try the stairwell and see if we find anything.”

Once again, Rome led the way, climbing the stairs slowly in the same zigzag pattern she had used outside the dorm. One step below the third floor landing, she stopped. She moved her hands slowly over the landing.

“This is the place,” she said. “The bodies were reanimated here.”

Rome continued running her hands just above the floor.

“It feels like wizard magic—black waziri, I think,” she said after a few moments. “But there is something else as well. Something very dark.” She stood up. “That’s all I can tell you.”

“So, wizard magic, at least for the most part,” Smith said. “That eliminates the girls in the dorm, not that I ever really expected one of them could be behind something like this.”

“The question now is,” Jones said, “did the wizard who cast this magic pick this building at random, or was he drawn to here for some reason?”

“I’m afraid I cannot tell you that,” Rome said, straightening up.

“I think we’ve learned all we can here, for tonight at least,” Smith said. “Let’s head back to the motel and see what we can make of all this.”

“I could do with a bite to eat first,” Rome said.

“So could I,” Jones agreed.

“We’ll stop for something on the way back,” Smith said. “Pick up a couple of beers, too.”

The three agents descended the stairs and disappeared into the night.

Someone else was hungry that evening and out looking for a meal. The vampire Leah had crossed the river and was heading northwest, making sure to put plenty of distance between herself and the coven’s hideaway before beginning her hunt. She had considered bringing a companion along, but she had been confined in the caverns with her fellows for too long and had decided she needed some time alone. As a member of the High Council, she was still permitted to go out on her own, so that is what she had done.

Born in Scotland, Leah had been a vampire for more than five hundred years. She had been turned by a wandering vampire who took her with him to England. For more than two hundred years she hunted happily with him, until she ran afoul of a powerful vampire queen by unknowingly slaying a handsome nobleman the queen had been eyeing for her own. After that, nowhere in the English Isles was safe for Leah, so she set sail for America. Her mentor had decided to remain in England, so Leah had roamed the New World on her own for many years before finally falling in with Ricard and his coven.

Tonight, she glided silently through the night, her dark hair gathered in a ponytail that streamed out behind her. She skirted Middletown to the south and west, keeping to the trees as much as possible and flashing across roads and highways when no cars were visible. Just west of Middletown, she spied an isolated diner and slowed to a halt, thinking this might be a good place to catch an unwary human. The woods came to the very edge of the parking lot, providing plenty of dark shadows for concealment and a safe, convenient place to feast and then dispose of the body.

Six or seven cars sat in the lot, telling her there were ample potential victims inside. She hoped at least one of the drivers had come here alone. Keeping to the shadows, she skulked as close to the building as she could and peered in through the long plate glass windows. Most of the diners sat in pairs or trios, eating and chatting away, but there were two men seated in booths by themselves. The guy closest to her seemed to be nearing the end of his meal. Satisfied that a bit of patience would soon be rewarded, Leah melted back into the trees and waited for her opportunity.

While she waited, silent and invisible as a wraith, a dark SUV pulled into the lot and swung into a spot not too far from where she hid. Leah watched closely, unable to see into the vehicle past the bright glare of the headlights, but thinking perhaps she might get lucky and the driver would be alone. She readied herself to pounce, just in case

The motor shut off, leaving the night in sudden silence. A moment later, the headlights blinked out. Two people emerged from the driver’s side—a tall man from behind the wheel and a woman from the rear door. A second man got out on the passenger side. He looked to be equally as tall as his male companion. Either one would have made a fine meal, if only they had been alone.
Patience
, she chastised herself. Her chance to feast would come, sooner or later. She was not going to allow her
Destiratu
-fueled hunger make her do something she would regret afterwards. One missing person was a mystery; three would be a major news story and would produce a correspondingly large investigation.

Jones had barely closed the car door and stepped out into the night when he felt Rome grab him by the elbow. She tapped his forearm in a silent code that told him a vampire was very near.

Showing no surprise or emotion, Jones nodded in understanding while unobtrusively scanning the blackness beyond the lot. Not unexpectedly, he saw nothing but shadows. Spotting a vampire who did not wish to be seen in the darkness was next to impossible.

“I really need to take a leak,” he said quietly, knowing the vampire’s keen ears would hear every word. “You two go ahead inside. I’ll join you in minute or two.”

“Try not to get lost,” Smith joked from the other side of the car.

Rome circled around behind the car and joined Smith. The two of them headed for the diner while Jones walked slowly toward the edge of the trees, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. He took two steps into the woods and then pretended to fumble with his zipper.

Even fully alert, he was surprised when a female vampire suddenly materialized in front of him and grabbed him by his upper arms, her grip like a vise on his biceps. The surprise on his face quickly gave way to a smile.

His smile surprised Leah. She wondered if he somehow thought he was about to get lucky, that some woman had just happened to appear out of the woods for the sole purpose of showing him a good time. He would learn soon enough that a good time was indeed about to be had, but it would not be by him. She began to extrude her fangs.