Magic & Memory (30 page)

“All in the name of petty jealousy? Is that it?” Joey asked. “Your maker picks him over you, and now Alastair deserves to die for it?”

“Alastair has to die because he’s an
abomination
. Even when we were kids I knew there was something wrong with him. He wasn’t really human, and after he was turned he wasn’t really a vampire,” Meg hissed.

Her voice oozed disgust as she continued. “That
thing
that impregnated our mother, I saw it once. She called it an angel, but that can’t be what it was. It was some kind of terrifying creature comprised of blinding light and raw power, utterly inhuman. I knew Alastair contained part of that creature within him, and I thought that would make him an interesting gift for my maker, an oddity to provide a bit of amusement. That’s why I brought my brother to Augustine after I’d been turned. I certainly never expected my maker to become obsessed with the little freak.”

Joey’s body tensed as he hissed, “You’re responsible for bringing your own brother to Augustine? And you dare call
him
an abomination?”

Margaret sneered as she said, “I’ve wasted enough time on you, Joe.” She flung one hand in the air, and in the next instant a shockwave radiated toward Joey and Lu, obviously meant to knock them to the ground. Yet it flowed around them like they were rocks in a stream, and both remained unharmed.

Meg’s cold blue eyes went wide, and then narrowed. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. Bryn Maddock, right? He worked a couple of his tired old-school wards on you, didn’t he? It won’t be enough, you know. Not against what I had Jin provide for me.”

Joey took a couple steps forward so he was parallel with Augustine and saw that he was crying, his eyes riveted on the fountain. He followed Augustine’s line of sight, and noticed a sort of ripple in the air around the column at the fountain’s center. “What am I not seeing?” Joey demanded, a hard edge to his voice.

“You want to take a look? Be my guest,” said Meg. Suddenly it was as if a curtain was yanked away, and Joey and Lu both gasped at the sight of Alastair chained to the pillar that rose from the fountain.

Alastair’s body was completely limp, only the chains holding him upright. His face was covered by his black hair, his head slumped forward. His arms were pinned to his sides and blood dripped from both hands, spilling onto his blood-soaked jeans, trickling from his bare feet into the pool beneath him. It seemed at first that he was unconscious, but then he rolled his head to the side and his frightened gaze locked with Joey’s.

“My God, how is he still conscious?” Joey whispered. “He’s lost so much blood.”

“He’s conscious,” said Meg, “Because I’m keeping him that way. What fun would it be if he passed out and missed all the excitement? And you’ve become tiresome, Joe. This ends now.”

She underwent a transformation then, hunching slightly as her face and hands twisted and deformed, fingers turning into claws, razor sharp jagged teeth revealed in a monstrous grin.

Out of nowhere Meg produced a dangerously sharp long, thin blade, a faint white glow illuminating its length. She lashed out with the dagger but missed as Joey leapt out of the way and drew one of the swords from the sheath on his back. They lunged at each other viciously.

Meanwhile, Lu sprang into action. She hoped the snare around the fountain was meant to trap only Augustine as she tugged a nearby wood-framed lounge chair to the fountain’s edge. And apparently that was the case.

She heaved the heavy chair across the dark pool of liquid in the fountain. One end rested on the narrow ledge at its perimeter, the other on the small, hexagonal platform at the fountain’s center. She raced across the flattened chair and took hold of Alastair, whispering to him soothingly, “It’s going to be ok, Allie. I’m going to get you down from here.”

Lu remembered the bespelled knife then and pulled the short blade from her pocket. She didn’t know what made her think of it, or why she thought it would be of any use. The knife seemed far too small for the task at hand, but she slashed at the chains at the back of the pillar anyway. White sparks flew as metal sliced metal, and in a moment the chains fell around their feet.

They were all that had been holding Alastair up, and he collapsed immediately into Lu’s arms. She struggled to hold him and somehow she managed, just long enough to ease him onto the lounge chair.

Lu crouched beside him on the chaise and looked for the source of his bleeding. As soon as his hair fell back she saw that a long, thin silver spike, almost like a knitting needle but dangerously sharp at both ends, had been driven through his throat, piercing the major arteries on both sides of his neck. Blood ran slowly but steadily from both punctures.

She tried to gingerly grab one end of the spike and pull it out, but it slipped from her grasp. She still had the knife in her hand, so she used the flat side of the blade and pushed it against one sharp tip of the spike, causing the other end to jut out. This gave her enough to hold on to and she slid the needle-like device from his neck in one quick motion, tossing it away from them across the rooftop garden.

Throughout this, Alastair’s eyes were locked on Lu’s face. As soon as the spike was removed he took a deep breath and tried to speak, but his voice was too weak.

“It’s ok, Allie. Don’t try to talk,” Lu told him as she put the knife back in her pocket and pressed her fingers against the puncture wounds on either side of his neck. There was so much blood on his skin that it was hard to tell if the flow was lessening, but after a minute or two the blood around her fingers seemed to be drying. She pulled her hands away and saw that the punctures had closed.

She looked up at Joey and Meg then as Meg let out an angry shriek. They’d been fighting furiously throughout all of this, and seemed quite evenly matched. Or maybe Joey really wasn’t trying to kill her -- it seemed more that he was on the defensive.

Suddenly Meg landed a hard kick to Joey’s leg, sending him staggering backwards. And then as Lu watched in horror, Meg leapt at Joey, tackling him and sending both of them tumbling over the edge of the roof.

Lu gasped and scrambled off the lounge chair, rushing to the roof’s edge and looking down. On the lawn three stories below Meg was rising to her feet, the long glowing blade still in her hand. Joey’s right arm was clutched to his chest as he struggled to rise. His sword lay several yards away, and his right leg kept collapsing under him. He fell to the grass again and again as Meg advanced steadily toward him, drawing back her dagger.

A scream died in Lu’s throat as she watched the scene play out below her. It was like seeing it unfurl in slow motion -- Joey helpless, injured, Meg drawing the blade back, preparing to strike. Lu wished there was something she could do.

          Something thumped against her hip then, and Lu realized the little bespelled knife had jumped. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the knife by its handle, and swung it back behind her shoulder. Then without really thinking about it, her arm slung forward and she released the little blade, sending it hurtling downward. It met its target and embedded handle-deep in Meg’s chest.

Meg cried out and dropped her weapon, trying to dislodge the little knife from her heart with both hands as she stared up at Lu with raw hatred. She had to struggle with it, but eventually she freed the little blade from her chest, screaming and dropping the knife as if it had burned her.

She lunged for her weapon then. But while she’d been distracted by the little knife, Joey had grabbed the second sword on his back with his left hand. He now balanced on his one good leg and struck with one fluid motion, slashing Meg’s arm before she could reach her dagger, cutting her deep enough that the arm was temporarily rendered useless. She recoiled and glared at him for a long moment.

Joey was poised to strike again, when suddenly Meg turned and fled. She moved so quickly that she was gone in an instant.

And just like that, it was over.

Joey watched and waited for several long moments, his sword still drawn back. And when he was sure Meg really had gone, he exhaled and sank onto the grass. Then he looked up at Lu and called out, “Nice shot.”

“Thanks, but no way did I do that. It must have been Bryn somehow,” Lu told him.

Joey pulled the little red cell phone out of his pocket. It was still on. “Thanks Bryn,” he said.

“Is it over?” the warlock’s voice came over the speaker. “Is Alastair ok?”

 “He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s alive.”

“How did you defeat Margaret?” Bryn wanted to know.

 “Your trick with that little fancy snake knife distracted her long enough for us to gain the upper hand,” Joey told Bryn. “As soon as the tide turned, Meg ran off. She always did have a strong sense of self-preservation.”

“Ah. Well, whatever happened with the knife wasn’t my doing, mate. That little dagger only follows the instructions of whoever it’s with, and even then it only obeys certain individuals. It actually flat-out ignores me. Was it in Lu’s possession at the time?”

“Yup.”

“Then you have her to thank,” Bryn told him. “Obviously the knife and Lu understand each other, so give it to her as a gift from me. Make sure she keeps it with her, ok?”

“Will do.” Joey smiled at Lu, then called up to her, “Hey, is Augustine still doing the statue thing?”

Lu glanced over her shoulder, then said, “He is.”

“One last thing Bryn. Augustine stepped into some kind of snare spell. Could you free him?”

“You sure you want me to?”

“Yeah. Meg may come back, and it’s just not a fair fight with him immobile like that.”

“If you’re sure that’s what you want,” Bryn said.

“It’s what Alastair would want.”

“Alright. It’s done.”

“Thanks again, Bryn,” Joey said. “This would have gone much differently without your help.”

“Yes, thanks,” Lu called down from the rooftop.

“No worries mates, least I could do. I need to go rest now, Philippe is ready to confiscate my phone.”

After they hung up Joey hobbled back toward the house, using the sword in his left hand like a cane to take some pressure off his broken leg. He kept an eye out for Meg’s return, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Lu turned to Alastair. He was right where she’d left him, with Augustine at his side. His maker had a wrist pressed to Alastair’s lips, and Alastair was drinking deeply.

After another minute, Alastair stopped drinking and took a deep breath. Augustine leaned down and whispered, “I’m so sorry for everything, Alastair. I know I went too far, I had no right to manipulate you the way I did. I’d take away the memory block right now if I could, but unfortunately you’ll need Jin to do that. His family’s last name is Cheng and they live in San Francisco, on Washington near a place called Lucky Creation. I doubt Jin’s still living with his family, but at least that’ll give you a starting point in tracking him down.” Augustine kissed Alastair’s forehead, then got up and began to walk away.

Lu caught up to Augustine and said, “Where are you going?”

He turned toward her and shrugged. “Back to my apartment in San Francisco, I guess. I can’t stay here.” He seemed fragile somehow, visibly shaken by the day’s events.

“Really? You’re just walking away from Alastair?”

He sighed. “I’ve done enough damage to him.”

“Will we see you again?”

Augustine grinned at that. Then he reached out and gave Lu’s hand a gentle squeeze as he said, “Please take good care of him for me.” He turned and took off down the stairs.

Lu returned to Alastair’s side, and he smiled when he saw her. “Thanks for coming for me, Lu.”

She smiled too, laying her hand against his cheek. “Of course.”

Alastair’s expression grew serious as he asked, “Is Joey ok?”

“He will be.”

“And Margaret?”

“She took off.”

Alastair’s dark blue eyes reflected profound sadness. “She hates me so much. My own sister. She thinks I’m a monster.”

“She’s wrong,” Lu said simply, caressing his cheek.

Alastair caught her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it before saying, “Throughout all of this, all I could think about was you. I kept thinking that I didn’t want to die because I didn’t want to be parted from you.” He held her hand in both of his. “I want to be with you more than anything, Lu. Please stay with me.”

“I want to be with you too, Allie.” She leaned in and kissed him gently, and he ran his fingers into her hair and returned the kiss passionately.

“It’s not going to be easy,” he told her after she sat back and took hold of his hand again. “I have so many enemies. If we’re together you’ll always be in danger.”

“I know,” she told him. “But you and Joey will have my back.”

“Always. And I know you’ll have my back, too.”

 “Always,” she told him. He sat up shakily and she said, “Allie, we need to get out of here, in case Meg comes back with reinforcements. Do you think you can walk?”

“Yes, I think so. Where will we go?”

 “We’ll head north. We can check in on Bryn on our way past San Francisco, make sure he’s ok. And we can bring him a nice bottle of champagne as a thank you gift for helping us, he’ll like that. Then we’ll head home to Ashland. I think we all need some time to rest and recover before trying to track down Jin and getting him to remove the memory block.”