Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 3) (4 page)

“Great.”

“Wait,” Stan said quickly. “Save me a venom sample. And I want one of those bees. I’m going to dissect it to figure out how it ticks.”

Yuck. “Ok.”

“Make sure you transport the bee and the venom in magically-sealed preservation units.”

“Yes, Mother, thank you. This isn’t my first time facing a Level 4 magic hazard.”

“Killing hazardous creatures and transporting them safely are two entirely different matters.”

“I’ll be careful.”

He snorted. “Burn the other bees.”

“I will certainly try, but you should know that the bees’ bodies absorbed fire like it was magic crack.”

“They’re dead. Even if their magic isn’t decaying, their defenses will be weaker without a beating heart to pulse magic into the scales. You’ll just need to burn the fire hot.” Then Stan hung up.

Alex tucked away her phone, then stepped up to the dead bees. While she’d been talking to Stan, he’d extracted a sample of venom and bagged one of the blue-bodied creatures. Now it was up to her.

She stared down at the nearest bee, concentrating on the cracks in its armor. Flames burst to life all across the bee’s body, but the magic slid right off the hard armor, even fractured as it was. She focused the fire into a point, burning it hotter. Flesh sizzled beneath the scales. It was working. Hotter and hotter she pushed the fire, stoking the magic inferno. Sweat dribbled down her face and neck. The scent of burning hair singed her nostrils. As her magic drained from her body, her hands began to twitch. She was really starting to wish for dragon fire right about now. On any other beast, she’d have tried her magic-breaking ability, but that had already backfired horribly tonight. So she was stuck with trying to burn past its defenses.

Finally, the blue sheen faded from the bee’s scales, and the creature dissolved in a puff of colorless smoke. Alex heaved a sigh of relief. She took a moment to catch her breath, then turned to stare down the second bee.

“One down, forty-eight to go.”

* * *

One hour later, there wasn’t a single bee left on the ground, and Alex had burned away every drop of the monsters’ bright pink blood. The only evidence that the creatures had ever been there were the jagged cuts their stingers had sawed in the wooden house at the end of the street. Most of the besieged humans had left the area, but a few curious people had remained there to snap photos of Alex burning up the bees. The pictures were probably plastered all over the internet by now. More publicity—just what she did
not
need right now.

Dissolving roughly fifty giant bees had left Alex’s body tired and sweaty. Her magic had fared worse; it felt like it had been body-slammed across the city. She plopped down into the passenger seat of Logan’s car and fell asleep.

Sometime later, she opened her eyes to find Logan watching her, a smile tugging on the corner of his mouth. They were parked inside Monster Cleanup’s underground parking garage, along with only a dozen other cars. On most nights, there were at least four times as many cars, as well as the full contingent of vans from the Disposal department. Everyone must still be out there in the city, fighting the flood of monsters.

“How long have we been here?” she asked Logan.

“A few minutes. I didn’t want to wake you.”

Alex released her seatbelt. “After we get Stan his dead bee and venom, we have to get back out there.”

“No.” Lightning fast, he caught her hand before she could open the car door.

She tried to free her hand, but his grip was iron-clad. “The monsters are overrunning the city, Logan.”

“And you can barely stand, let alone fight. You expended all of your energy burning the bees before their magic could spread. If you go back out there now, you will only get yourself killed. For once, please be sensible.”

“I am being sensible. I’m not going to hide the whole time in here. Your car stinks and is covered in monster blood.”

Logan glanced down at his pink-streaked leather seating, then sighed. “An occupational hazard of working with you, Alex. Let’s drop this off.” He lifted up the shiny orange bag with the dead bee inside. “Then I’ll take us home. The house doesn’t stink, and there’s no monster blood.”

“Unless the apocalypse decides to knock on our door.”

“If the apocalypse knocks on our door, we’ll tell it to go to hell.” He flipped her hand over and kissed the underside of her wrist. “Deal?” he asked, looking up at her through long lashes.

“Deal,” she agreed. “Though just for the record, you’re not playing fair.”

He leaned in, his cheek kissing hers. “Of course I’m not. Assassins don’t play fair. That’s why we win.”

She slid her finger down his chest, tracing the ridges of his muscles all the way down his stomach. “Darling, you’re only winning because I let you.” She held up the knife she’d stolen from him.

Soft laughter hummed in his chest. Alex followed his gaze to the sword in his hand. Her sword. He’d stolen it right out from under her, and she hadn’t even noticed. It served her right for trying to steal from an accomplished thief. If she’d had any magic left in her, she could have turned him into a popsicle. That would teach him.

“I’m going to see if Violet has any muffins left,” Alex said, handing Logan his knife.

The thing was, he was right. She’d expended a lot of energy tonight. Right now, she didn’t have enough magic to blow over a mosquito. Muffins would change that. She was going to eat at least five, maybe more if Violet still had chocolate ones. Giving Logan a coy wink, Alex grabbed her sword and slid out of the car.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Logan said, walking beside her as she headed across the concrete expanse. The violently-orange bag with the giant dead bee drooped from his hand.

“I’m thinking about chocolate.”

“Besides that,” he said, pressing the button as they stopped in front of the elevator.

Someone from Monster Cleanup had taped a sign onto the wall. It read, ‘You are now entering hell. Proceed at your own risk.’ The elevator doors parted, and they stepped inside. Alex tapped the ‘H’ button. It stood for ‘Hall’, not ‘Hell’, at least as far as she knew. Why the agents of Monster Cleanup couldn’t use floor numbers like any normal person was beyond her. Perhaps because the whole lot of them were nuts.

“You’re thinking you can snack on a few muffins, drink down a couple magic-boosted energy drinks, and then go right back out there and kill monsters until you drop,” he said.

“Until
they
drop,” she amended. “I’m not planning on doing any dropping.”

“See, that’s the thing, Alex. You don’t plan. Ever. It’s a wonder you’re still alive.”

“I won’t die.” She grinned at him. “I’m far too stubborn.”

He rubbed his head like this conversation hurt. “Oh, yes. On that at least we can agree.”

“Look, I don’t see what the problem is. I’ve been killing monsters since I could walk. I’ve been getting paid to kill them for eight years, and I’m damn good at my job.”

“No one is questioning your competence, Alex.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Just my sanity?”

“Why do you want to go out there again?”

She didn’t even need to think about it. “Because monsters are attacking the city, and people will get hurt if we don’t stop them.”

“You’re not in any condition to save them.”

“I know my limits,” she told him.

“You passed out in my car.”

“And had a nice, refreshing nap. Give me an energy drink and a muffin, and I’ll be all set to go again.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Of course I am.” Alex kissed his cheek.

The elevator chimed their arrival at their destination. She winked at him, then walked out.

Even more posh than the Mayhem lobby in San Francisco, Monster Cleanup’s ’Hall’ was a large, open room with a vaulted ceiling that dripped long strands of crystal beads. Along the satin-smooth walls hung paintings illuminated with spotlight arrays, just like in a museum. The polished white marble floor was as slick as a newly-smoothed ice rink. At one end of it sat a sitting area of artfully-arranged antique leather sofas, at the other a glass reception desk that sang of candy palaces and sugar delights. Bingo. Alex followed her nose.

A woman in a little black dress sat behind the desk, every inch of her very tiny miniskirt visible through the glass. Violet, Monster Cleanup’s receptionist. Like Alex, she was twenty-four, but the cute milkmaid updo she’d braided her blonde hair into today made her look no older than eighteen.

“Alex,” Violet said, her face lighting up in excitement. “Just the person I was looking for. I have something for you.”

“Muffins?” Alex asked hopefully.

“No, I’m all out of those, sorry.”

Alex sighed.
 

“If I’d known we’d be operating at one hundred percent tonight, I would have ordered more. More will be coming in two hours. Do you want to wait around for my evening muffin delivery?”

“Wait around here for two hours while smelling like bee guts? Hmm. I’m not sure I want the muffins that badly.”

“I still have some Magic Spike.” Violet set a bottle of the magic energy drink onto the counter.

 
Alex popped it open and took a long gulp, pretending it was a magic smoothie. “So this is what you had for me?”

“No.” She reached down and this time set a book onto the counter. “Here’s the book on magical beasts of Europe you requested to check out.”

“Great. Thanks,” Alex said, taking the book. “I wanted to research a few of the local nasties.”

“You? Research?” Logan asked.

“I love research.”

He snorted. “I specifically remember you calling research ‘dull and nerdy’. On multiple occasions.”

“Monster research is different. I actually like reading about various beasts’ weaknesses so that when I go to kill them, they don’t kill me instead.” She grinned at him. “I’m not as reckless and crazy as you think I am.”

“You are every bit as reckless and crazy as I think you are.” He dropped his mouth to her ear. “And I can’t decide if I love it or hate it.”

“You love it, of course, because you love me.”

He chuckled. “Yes, I really do.” He lifted up the orange bag. “Come on. Let’s get this beast to Disposal before it leaks pink goo all over me.”

“Is that one of the giant poisonous bees?” Violet asked, leaning forward.

“Yeah, I burned the rest, but Stan wanted his own,” Alex told her.

“He likes to collect creatures.” Violet shivered. “I hope it’s not…alive.”

“No, it’s dead.”

Alex waved at her, then joined Logan by a pair of swinging double doors labeled with a single black, blocky ’D’. To navigate this building, you really had to know exactly where you were going. They pushed past the doors and entered a long corridor. Everything—the walls, the floor, the ceiling—was painted in the same blinding white color. Standing there was like being trapped inside of a camera flash the moment it went off. They followed the hallway to the room at the end. Its door was marked with a bloody handprint, the Disposal guys’ idea of a funny joke.

“Stan, are you in here?” Alex called out through the jungle of tables and shelves overflowing with papers, monster corpses, and wrinkled potato chip bags.

A pair of mages in white uniforms stood in front of a table with a dead cactus…monster? The thing had arms and legs. Wow, now she’d seen everything. The two mages were arguing over how they were going to penetrate its spiky shell.

At the next table, a ghost explained to a young fairy how to dissolve the acid coating on the magic dragonfly pinned to their tray. Alex and Logan continued past unoccupied tables until they reached the back. A mage with spiky orange hair and a long lab coat stood between two desks. A computer and a messy stack of books were piled on one desk, a big bodybag on the other.

“No one we know, I hope,” Alex said.

“What?” Stan looked up, his face frazzled. “Oh, that.” He glanced briefly at the bodybag. “No, that’s just a tree that spontaneously gained the ability to move its branches, a miracle the plant celebrated by attempting to strangle the first person who walked by. I still haven’t figured out what made the tree come to life. As far as I can tell, it’s just a normal tree, and my instruments can’t pick up any traces of magic.”

Alex closed her eyes, drinking in the magic in the room. Beside her, she could feel Logan’s unique supernatural cocktail blended with a hint of her own magic.

Past him, she sensed the woodsy aroma of nuts and mulch, splashed with a sharp tang of animal blood and the cool chill of fresh water. Stan’s magic. He was a mage shifter. She didn’t know his preferred animal, but she had a feeling it was some kind of cat. He always had bottles of milk stocked inside the mini fridge beneath his desk and a pot of catnip on his windowsill. Catnip, which was a magical plant, was also called Tiger’s Tooth, and mage shifters went bonkers for it—especially the ones who turned into cats.

Alex could feel the soft, feathery whisper of an aura that belonged to the ghost and beside him the pop and fizzle of the fairy’s bubbly magic. As for the two mages—together they had hardly more magic than the rotting pulse of the cactus lying dead on their table. Stan’s tree didn’t have any magic of its own, but a shadow of a dark spell smoked from its burnt branches.

“Someone possessed that tree,” Alex said, opening her eyes.

Stan’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t possess a tree.”

“I’m just telling you the magic I feel from it. You can take it or leave it.” She nodded toward the table with the cactus. “That same someone possessed the cactus too.”

“Nonsense.”

He was right. It did sound like nonsense. Demons could possess people, and some powerful artifacts or supernaturals could control people’s actions, just like the Convictionites had controlled Logan. But she’d never heard of anyone who could possess ordinary plants, making them come alive. Maybe a telekinetic or a wind elemental had made the plants appear to move. Then again, she didn’t feel any telekinetic or elemental magic on them. None of this made any sense.

“Here’s your venom,” Logan said, handing Stan the vial of venom.

The head of the Disposal department’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Fascinating.”