Magic Resistant (29 page)

Hands resting on the red couch, Felix
appeared to be roughly Paige’s age, also with dark grey hair though
cut short and balding on top. His light brown skin had a faint
leathery look, giving evidence to the amount of time he spent
outdoors. Neither seemed bothered by the noticeable advancement of
their years. Small, square glasses perched on the end of his nose,
his deep brown eyes sharp as he assessed the room.

Pacing behind the black couch to the right
was Logan. He enjoyed playing up his big, bad wolf persona. A
shaved head, a short goatee and a face full of piercings. His smile
an evil, vile thing. Canines kept long, he enjoyed the squeamish
reactions he received. However, it bothered no one in this room.
They all had their own dark side. Jackson had several dealings with
him previous and each time he felt scuzzy, like he’d walked through
a sewer. If wererats actually existed, Logan would’ve been one of
them instead of a werewolf.

Aaron came from the same mold as Logan. His
shaved head gleamed in the artificial light and piercings adorned
his face. While smaller of the two, his body was heavily packed
with muscles. Both of them had the aura of menace rolling from
them. It took immense strength and ironclad discipline to rule as
the Alpha, never mind as a Coterie leader. He figured the badass,
don’t-fuck-with-me appearance helped scare off constant
challenges.

Aaron’s eyes glowed an eerie amber whenever
light hit them a certain way. First time Jackson met him, it’d
taken a few moments to realize why. His eyes stayed as a wolf’s.
They didn’t revert to human eyes at all. Coupled with the sharp
canines, he was pretty damn cruel looking. Only the strongest would
want to tangle with a werewolf able to stay partially
transformed.

One of the true ancients, Augustus watched
Rome prosper and then fall. The grapevine insisted he’d been around
when they built the Great Pyramids, but no one knew for sure. And,
as with all vampires, Augustus kept his mouth shut. The older the
vampire, the more powerful, but it also meant a larger target
painted on their backs. Different groups wanted to kill the
ancients: humans fearing their power, other vampires wanting to
destroy the vampire’s lineage, and drug dealers wanting the blood
to sell.

Just shy of six feet, his commanding presence
made him appear taller. Jet black hair slicked back to play up his
widow’s peak and his pale white skin gleaming against his hair. The
lack of glowing red eyes a true disappointment. Instead, just an
ordinary brown. A stereotype of a vampire, done on purpose. If the
public believed all vampires resembled him, they’d be less likely
to suspect their average neighbour.

Leonora, standing with Augustus behind the
left black couch, looked every inch the glamorous vampire. Another
purposeful image cultivated to calm the hatred in the human men and
instead incite their lust.

No one would mistake her for one of the
living. Her alabaster skin glimmered in the light and her deep red
hair a fiery halo. Her lips a vivid crimson and would have looked
ridiculous on anyone else. It suited her dramatic, 1950’s pin-up
girl appearance just so long as he avoided any blood association.
If not he’d wonder when and who her last meal had been. She took no
breath as she watched the rest of the council and he had no idea
what she was thinking. She gave nothing away, not even an
involuntary twitch. Quite unnerving.

Queen Tatiana and her handmaiden, Una, both
had on heavy veils, concealing their faces from everyone. However,
their tall, lithe bodies were almost bare and on display as they
sprawled on the far right couch. Una had her hand resting on
Tatiana’s thigh, absentmindedly caressing her skin. Tatiana toyed
with Una’s hair, curling a lock around her finger.

They weren’t hiding their faces due to
deformity, both of them stunning to behold. It also wasn’t for a
vow of chastity or purity as the Fae viewed sexual relationships
differently than humans. They did it for control, wanting to off
balance the other leaders. He had no idea if it worked though, the
council well schooled in hiding their thoughts and reactions.

Queen Mab and her handmaiden, Duessa, were
the opposite of the Light Fay leaders. Both wore conservative
clothes and glamours to tone down their otherworldliness. They sat
primly on the left couch, hands folded neatly and ankles crossed.
Jackson knew better.

The Dark Fae could be a cruel and sadistic
lot. Stories detailing their depravity whispered in the bright
light of day. No one wanted to hear such stories in the dark,
vulnerable to an overactive imagination.

Taken prisoner by either the Light or Dark
Fae meant years of torture and slavery. They had ways of cheating
death, prolonging the suffering. Once a victim escaped from them,
her mind broken, scars covering her body. The Enforcers tried to
investigate, but found their way into Fay barred without special
permission. The two queens claimed they would look into the matter
themselves. They stated their realm, their laws and their
punishment. Sixty years passed and still no answers. The case
languished, pushed out of sight, but never forgotten.

Disbelieving whispers escaped from the Elite
Mage Enforcers in the room, on their lips an unexpected name.

Julia.

He glanced her way and, to his amazement, saw
her magical disguise gone.

Odd. It should've lasted for several
hours.

Slight embarrassment coloured her features,
now center of attention. Hastily she wiped all expression from her
face, stared straight ahead and ignored the murmurs.

However, Elite Enforcers were a tenacious
bunch, determined for answers no matter the cost. Several of them
started to move forward, wanting to verify it truly was their
missing colleague. Markus stopped them cold as his voice cut
through the rumblings.

“That’s not why we’re here. Step back into
formation or face a formal reprimand.” His glare effortlessly cowed
them and they moved to their original positions. When whispers
started up again, Markus silenced them with a single glance.

Damn, he
was
a scary son of a bitch.
Elites didn’t take orders from Enforcers, only the Coterie. And
even they didn’t want to tangle with him.

The other Elite Enforcers in the room
scarcely gave Julia a second glance. None of them had any ties to
her as Enforcers seldom interacted with each other unless an
investigation required it.

All heads swiveled towards Markus as he
strode over to the entertainment system. While he brought the
computer out of sleep, he attached a USB key to the machine.
Browsing through the folders, he found the one he wanted and double
clicked on it. The large TV flickered to life as the video
played.

No sound accompanied the security footage,
just three second bursts of video.

A summoning.

A down and dirty summoning of a demon
improperly chained.

Jackson could tell within seconds they’d
drawn several of the symbols incorrectly and the holding circle had
a minuscule break in the line. Energy leaked from it. A demon would
break this binding without exerting itself, even a common imp would
slip this lease.

Even more fascinating, he recognized the
ritual. The one they accused him of casting. Several details were
different, such as the sloppy ritual, the poorly drawn circle and,
most important of all, the lack of Jackson.

No trace of him at all in this video. Nada,
zip, zilch.

What in the nine hells? Not that he was
complaining. While nice not to see “himself” releasing a demon that
slaughtered several people, it made no damn sense.

Once he moved past his confusion, he
scrutinized the unfolding events and the key players. Two unknown
mages were the focus of the circle and the energy. They chanted, or
he assumed they did, and poured their energy into the symbols.
Neither seemed to notice the gradual, but steady, leak of magic.
Standing behind them were three familiar werewolves, Logan and two
of his personal Elite Enforcers. Jackson had seen them around
before, always with the Coterie leader.

What were they called again? Demons his
specialty, not werewolves, so he didn’t attach too much importance
to their names. He cared about Sylvia and her pack and ignored the
rest.

He did remember their names rhymed. Terry and
Larry? No. Shawn and Don? Nope, not that either. Oh yes, that’s
right, Kim and Jim. Habit had him snapping his fingers with that
thought. Except the finger cuffs held them firm. Damn
restraints.

Smaller of the other two, Kim was leaner
though no less muscled. His bright blonde hair gave him a surfer
appearance, although the cruel glint in his eye belied the innocent
act. Jim was more in line with a football player. Everything about
him solid and heavy. His bald head and soul patch coupled with his
fake tattoos glorifying death made him thuggish.

All three stood outside the circle, taking no
part in the summoning. Without magical abilities, they would’ve
caused complications to the spell. Not that they could’ve messed it
up any more than these two simpleton mages. They had no business
working a ritual.

A portal opened to the demon’s plane of
existence, causing a few shocked mutterings from those familiar
with summonings. The idiots’ skill level nowhere near proficient
enough, and yet somehow they succeeded.

They opened a door when it should’ve sucked
them in, devouring their energy as punishment.

The demon they called forth was an ugly, dark
grey creature, a horrifying nightmare from the sea. Tentacles
instead of arms, sharp looking frills on both sides of its head,
soulless black eyes and several rows of pointed teeth in its
elongated mouth. It stood on four squat legs, each one ending oddly
in cloven hoofs. When summoned, demons came without their
“civilized” clothing. Their true faces staring back at the mage
crazy enough disturb them.

Scanning the room, he gauged everyone’s
reaction. Julia recognized the video, the tiny furrow between her
brows giving away her confusion. Gavin glared at Logan, ignoring
the video. Logan, however, appeared to be inching his way towards
the exit with his two Elites in tow. Markus caught the stealthy
attempt at a getaway and signaled for several Mage Elites to block
their path. Logan glowered at them, but settled down.

His partner, Victor, also figured out the
same mistakes he did and intently watched. His partner’s lips
moving along with the mages on the screen. Victor shook his head in
disbelief. Great, so the mages were also screwing up the words.
Truly a wonder they succeeded.

The Coterie alternately appeared bored or
disinterested. The Fae rarely cared for mortal intrigue unless they
had a hand in it. Titania and Una had lifted their veils to watch
the video and talked quietly to each other while shooting poisonous
glares at Mab and Duessa. Both of the Dark Fay Coterie seemed
oblivious and quite indifferent to the whole processing.

Augustus and Leonora stood as still and
lifeless as statues. It was downright creepy when vampires forgot
to pretend to be human, or didn’t care to put on the pretense. No
blinking, no breathing, no nervous twitching, nothing at all.
Jackson hastily averted his eyes from them. He already knew they
had nothing to do with this and would have enough to say once they
found out about the vampire blood.

While Mara and Roan stood next to Felix and
Paige, they exchanged no words. In silence they watched events
unfold on the screen. He caught a flicker of interest from both the
mage councilors although it passed too swiftly for him to
understand why. The human councilors appeared as bored as the Fae.
None of their people involved with this fiasco, they had little say
in the outcome. They too would have a stronger opinion once they
found out about the hunts.

Oonis, well, it was hard to predict his
thoughts. He didn’t react in a conventional manner and, even after
so many years hunting demons, Jackson still didn’t have a solid
grasp on their facial expressions. Unless they were baring their
teeth. He usually took that as a sign they wanted to rip him apart
and for the most part he was correct.

Aaron was the only one with a visible
reaction to the video, a tightening of the jaw and a small facial
tick. Was he involved in this nasty business, disgusted by the
whole thing or just angry he needed to do damage control?
Werewolves were big on power and appearing strong at all times.
This would be a huge blow to the control of their territory if news
leaked. Alphas could be challenged at any time and, more often than
not, to the death.

Challenging a Coterie Alpha was rare though
and the werewolves voted their leaders in since they governed the
entire globe. The Alphas below them, however, were fair game and
needed to rule with an iron fist. Show no mercy, show no
weakness.

Jackson turned back to the video in time to
see the demon break free. No one in the room reacted, this moment
expected from the beginning. The inept mages, however, shouted in
horror. Perhaps they shrieked like small children, hard to tell
without any sound. Their fear palpable when the demon attacked,
assaulting both of them, wrapping its tentacles around their
throats. Mere seconds was all it took, from one breath to the next
and the mages were dead.

With horrifying glee, the demon devoured
them, splattering gore and blood all over the circle with some gobs
of goo landing on the werewolves. They never flinched. In fact,
they seemed to enjoy the carnage.

Once the demon finished its meal, it stared
at the werewolves before disappearing into the night. The mages
were sacrifices, unknowing and unwilling ones at that. A glance at
Gavin confirmed his thoughts. This demon had supplied the
werewolves with the blood. They must have found a way to bind it
through the blood sacrifice. A rarity for a non-magic user to
do.