Magic Resistant (11 page)

Made no difference how it happened. Without
spells the werewolves gained the upper hand. He had to rely on his
physical attacks now against one who healed swiftly and had a
higher threshold of pain.

He gritted his teeth, refusing to fall to a
wolf when he’d spent most of his adult life battling demons.

Chapter Seven

JULIA SQUARED OFF
against the male werewolf. While Markus may have sheltered her from
the more gruesome aspects of being an Enforcer, he always insisted
she fight her own battles. He never pulled any of his punches and
today she was eternally grateful.

The first blow to her head took her by
surprise. The second took
him
by surprise. She used his
distraction while he sizing her up for the second hit to her
advantage, activating her fire shield.

Not all of her earrings required spoken
triggers. Some of them either ran constantly or needed her to
mentally project the triggering word. The fire shield required the
mental projection. Once it activated, her attacker would receive
the damage they inflicted returned to them as flames.

The harder the hit, the worse the burns were
to her attacker.

Unfortunately, he had dealt with mages
before. Instead of continuing to use his bare fists, he pulled out
a wooden bat hidden behind a nearby dumpster. This was looking more
and more like a setup. A spur of the moment attack wouldn’t have
them this well prepared.

Julia’s eyes narrowed and she started
mouthing curse words. A setup meant the attackers would be ruthless
in either capturing or killing Jackson, possibly her as well. This
werewolf wasn’t going easy on her as expected of a rescuer. He was
treating her like a threat.

Swiftly rifling through her memorized spells,
she found a sad lack of silent spells. Most of them required a
spoken word to trigger them. If she made it out alive, she was
burying her nose into grimoires to research more of them. As her
first time fighting in total silence, it was unnerving.

Her fire shield was no longer as helpful as
it could’ve been. While an attacker would be wary of hitting her
with bare flesh, a baseball bat removed the fear of pain. Well, for
the attacker at least. She would feel every single blow until the
wood burned or she found some way to stop him. Eyes darting around
the alley, she searched for anything helpful while she dodged a
swing of the bat.

A gleam of metal caught her attention, tucked
under old newspapers and other trash. Ducking under another swing,
she ran for the shining metal. Pulling it out from under the
garbage, she gripped the perfectly weighted knife. A savage grin on
her lips as she whirled back to her attacker.

She knew this knife. Even better, she knew it
had a high content of silver, ideal for hurting a werewolf. She
fell into her training, cleared her mind and let instinct take
over.

Relying on magic to win fights was pointless
due to her body’s natural resistance to it. Having it backfire
during a crucial moment was always a possibility. If she had access
to magic, great. If not, she had other ways of winning.

She also suspected the werewolf thought he
had an advantage. No questions, they knew they were up against
mages, but doubtful anyone warned them about Julia’s prowess with a
blade. One of the few things the Mage Enforcers admired and feared
about her.

Testing the waters, she took a quick swipe at
him with the knife. His reaction swift with no sign of caution.
Good, he didn’t realize it was a silver blade. She didn’t want to
show her hand too soon, so she feigned several attacks, drawing him
out.

Searching for an opening proved difficult
when the bat kept coming perilously close to her head. A few times,
he managed to clip her on the shoulder and once on the hip. The bat
had numerous scorch marks and, in one spot, a large burn.

After several minutes of cat and mouse, she
saw the opportunity she needed. Crouching down to avoid another
hit, she scuttled forward and swung the sharp blade into a wide arc
across his stomach.

A soundless scream erupted from him as the
silver burned in the gut wound. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would
take longer to heal and perhaps leave a scar. The bat fell to the
ground as he clutched the gaping injury. Blood pooled between his
fingers and he reeled backwards until he hit the alley wall.

Julia shifted her gaze from him and saw
Jackson fighting with the other werewolf. The female had the upper
hand although Jackson gave no ground. Their hands and feet were a
blur as they fought until she staggered, having scented the blood
from the male werewolf.

A howl of anger muted by the silence spell.
Anguish crumpled her features and in that unguarded moment, Jackson
put her down with a solid punch to her jaw. She dropped to the
ground, dazed.

Julia seized the chance to escape. She
grabbed Jackson’s arm as she ran by and they raced out of the
alley.

The silence spell deactivated as they exited
onto the street. An agonizing scream from the male rung out before
it ended abruptly. A loud whimper from the female peaked sharply
into a yelp and then she too was quiet.

Julia continued tugging Jackson along by his
arm. They pushed their way through other people on the sidewalk,
heedless of the angry shouts. Passing by several small stores
lining the street, she found what she was looking for, a large
electronics store. She wanted the anonymity a box store would
offer. Other customers would pay them no attention and sales people
would ignore them which made for a perfect situation.

Making their way to the back of the store,
they passed several rows of electronic goods. Studiously avoiding
eye contact with any zealous sales associates, they stopped near
the washrooms while staying close enough to “browse” the
merchandise and not arouse suspicion.

“What the hell?!” Jackson whispered to her.
“How did they find us? I have a constant anti-tracking spell on. No
way in hell could they have found us and so quickly. They must’ve
been waiting!”

“I’ve found you... twice. Maybe someone else
found a way around your spell?” She tilted her head, checking him
over for any obvious wounds. Her stomach clenched at the thought of
him hurt.

“You found me? Wait, that was your tracking
spell?” Something sounding suspiciously like pride laced his
voice.

“We’re getting sidetracked.” She didn’t want
to discuss why she modified it. “The most important thing is making
our way back to the hostel. No one has attacked us there, so your
wards are working.”

“How are we getting back? We could be spotted
at any time. The werewolves can track by our sent. Hell, our scent
is all over that alley.” Jackson ground out as he paced,
frustration coating his words.

His agitation seemed out of character.
Compare to his normal job, this should’ve been a breeze. Werewolves
were nothing after facing off against demons.

“Give me a minute.” Figuring out how the
werewolves tracked them would wait. A more pressing matter required
her attention, how to get back to the hostel, unharmed and without
being followed.

“Do you know any deodorizer spells? I don’t
have any memorized, but I can invis us both.” She ran her finger
over the charged diamond earring.

His eyes glazed over slightly as he went
through his mental catalogue.

“Ah good, yes I do.” He focused on Julia
again, giving her a lopsided grin. “Last time I used it, a
disgusting smelling demon had me in a bear hug. Cracked three of my
ribs and made me stink for a week afterwards. Only way I could
stand myself was with deodorize. The cracked ribs, easy to handle,
but that smell…
horrifying
!”

She suppressed a chuckle at his disgusted
look and made a mental note to stay away from smelly demons. More
important, though, not to let them hug her.

“Do you have any garlic powder hiding in your
never-ending pouch?” He grinned at her and looked disappointed when
she pulled some out in a little bag. He had spent over a week
trying to trip her up, see if she didn’t have a component. Julia,
however, was well stocked and prepared.

She laughed and told him to hurry up.

As he casted deodorize, she mentally prepared
to cast invisibility on them. Her diamond earring had five charges
on them and she hated to use two of those charges, but saw no other
choice. The way things were going, she’d be recharging her earrings
again soon. She sighed. That would require her workshop and several
weeks’ worth of work.

“Remember,” she reminded him, “no casting
spells and no making any aggressive moves or the spell drops.”

“Yes dear.” He said in a nasally, suffering
voice then winked at her.

Julia pinched his shoulder in retaliation
before casting invisibility on him then on herself.

“Lead the way. And don’t walk me into any
walls.” She joked as she kept her hand on his arm. If she focused
enough, his ghostly form appeared. A rare ability, one of the
advantages of magic resistance. Illusions didn’t fully work with
her when she concentrated on seeing past them and invis counted as
an illusion.

“There goes my fun. Worst kidnapped victim
ever.” He drawled before they reached other customers. Both kept
quiet, the entrance their destination.

Weaving through the pockets of meandering
people, Julia took care not to touch or bump anyone. No sense
alerting the public mages were in the building. With unspoken
agreement, she stopped behind Jackson as they waited near the
automatic doors. Their patience paid off as another person left,
opening the door for them. Movements tracked by video feeds were a
distinct possibility, one they wanted to avoid.

The next few minutes passed uneventful as
they made their way to the hostel and into their room. Once safely
inside with the wards in place, Julia dispelled her invisibility
and deodorize as he did the same. Tossing the stupid hat onto the
bed, (how she hadn’t lost it was a mystery) she shook out her hair
before finger combing it into a messy ponytail.

“So, uh, where did the knife come from? Have
you been hiding it all this time?”

“No. I found it in the alley, hidden. Odd
thing is... this is my knife. I last had it when Markus knocked me
unconscious.”

Chapter Eight

“HOW DO YOU know
it’s your knife? Maybe it’s a similar one?” Her weapon just
happened to show up in a random alley moments after the werewolves
attacked. Yeah, not strange at all. And Jackson was a demon lover.
Add in an almost perfect trap sprung on them the first day they
left their hiding spot and he no longer believed in
coincidences.

“It’s mine. Markus had it made for me and
inscribed my name on the blade.” She ran her fingers over the
scrolling lines and whorls on the silver blade.

She grabbed a rag from the kitchen and wiped
away the blood. Energy swirled around the knife as she used a spell
to sterilize and sharpen the metal. A rusted blade was useless
unless she hoped to kill them with tetanus.

“He had my name stylized- Julia Hill. I’d
told him I wished I had a pretty name, so he made it pretty for me.
Both of my knives have the same inscription.” Her expression
wistful and a little sad.

“I miss him.” She continued. “I’ve never been
out of contact with him for so long, even if it’s a random text
throughout the day. He’s been my mentor for almost 30 years and
well... I miss him. I left a message with my friend. Let my parents
know I’m okay. They’re gonna worry and I don’t want that. I haven’t
spoken to them since the first night.”

An unusual tightness in his chest distracted
him. Analyzing his emotions, he realized it was a mixture of guilt
for dragging her along and sadness over her distress. Guilt wasn’t
familiar to him. Difficult choices filled his life, ones he made
for the safety of the populace. If he spent his time worrying over
his actions, he’d never get out of bed.

Keeping her hidden away from her friends and
family bothered him. At least he could talk to his friends when he
needed, alleviating some of the loneliness. Julia didn’t have that
option. It’d be too easy for a careless word or a tapped phone to
lead his enemies here.

Or worse, if Markus caught wind of his hiding
location.

Now there was a mage who wouldn’t give up,
willing and able to tear the city apart for someone he cared about.
Jackson, along with the rest of the Enforcers, knew once Markus
gave his loyalty, it was near impossible to break and he’d do
anything for someone he cared about.

Sure, he was a hard-hearted bastard and
fucking scary when in a rage, which is what made him a great ally.
Kidnapping his partner was one of the stupidest things Jackson’s
ever done.

Part of him wanted to release her, let her go
back to the safety of her family. However, with the werewolves
tracking their scent, she wouldn’t be safe. Someone would let their
guard down, forgetting how patient wolves were on a hunt.

The thought of her hurt tore at him.

“I’m sorry.” He dragged his hand through his
hair and leaned against the small table.

“It’s not your fault. Whoever framed you is
at fault. Blame them, not yourself.” She reached over to squeeze
his hand and then quickly let go. “Although we do need to figure
out how they found us. We can’t stay holed up here
indefinitely.”

She was right, of course. He couldn’t spend
his time hiding here worried they’d get trapped again.

A mage was working with the werewolves. It
wasn’t possible for a werewolf to blanket an area with silence. The
question was, why would a mage, perhaps an Enforcer, enlist the
help of werewolves? Sure, they occasionally worked together, but a
traitor was personal business. Mage Enforcers would not want to
advertise how badly they’d lost control of one of their own. The
wonders of politics and power plays.