Magic Without Mercy (28 page)

“Time, people,” Shame said. “We’re running out of it.”

“Where’s Stone?” Paul asked.

“In Cathedral Park.”

“What are you going to do to Cody?”

“Zayvion’s going to Unclose him,” I said. “He’s going to give him his memories back, just like he gave yours back. We hope he’ll remember how to unlock Stone.”

“I will,” ghost Cody said.

Alive Cody nodded.

Paul’s gun shifted slightly to aim at Zayvion’s chest. “Do I have all my memories back?”

“No,” Zay said. “Victor can give you the rest.”

“Where’s Victor?”

“Cathedral Park with Stone.”

There were no sirens. But I knew the police were closing in, could feel the tension radiating off Shame. They had to be just a few blocks away. And I didn’t even hear engines. They were coming in quiet, and they were coming in hard.

“Then let’s go.” Paul lowered his gun and so did everyone else. “The MERC van is outside. Someone else can drive.” He held up his keys and Hayden came forward and took them.

“The back door,” I said. I gave Paul a thankful smile, which he did not return.

I turned and touched Nola’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

She nodded. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Of course we will,” I said.

I moved to help Davy, but Terric was already offering him a hand, not that I thought he needed one. Davy looked even stronger.

Maybe the no-magic of St. Johns was helping with that.

Collins stared at me from where he was slouching in a chair, a thoughtful look on his face as if he was trying to find a category to sort me into.

“Coming?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” he said. “You know what you’re doing breaks every rule of every law that there is, both in the common and uncommon world.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, picking up my coat. “I’m sure there’s a few I missed. After all, the night’s young.”

Zay was waiting for me, holding open the kitchen door. I hurried his way.

“Wait!” Mama called out. I looked over my shoulder. She hustled down the stairs, a blanket in her arms. “Here,” she said. “For the Boy.”

She pressed the soft old quilt into my arms. “Thank you,” I said. I would have hugged her, but there was no time. “Don’t get in a shoot-out with the police.”

She scoffed. “You. Run. I know my business.”

I ran, past the Boy in the kitchen who was holding the pantry door open, and who locked it behind us. Then out the outside door, and into the familiar white box van that Stotts’ crew always used for cleaning up messy, illegal spells. I caught the burly profile of Hayden at the wheel.

I jogged to the back of the box van and jumped up inside. Terric waited just a second while Shame pressed a message on his wrist. Terric shut the van door, plunging us all in darkness. The van started off. I sat on the cold metal floor, braced against the wall, rocking as the van rattled over the old streets.

There were no lights in the van, no windows. But the glow of magic on and around people revealed a few things to me.

The crystal in Shame’s chest gave off a slight pink-
going-bloody light, showing him and Maeve sitting next to Nola. Next to Nola sat Cody. Neither of them seemed to have any magic around them.

The webbing of magic wrapped around Davy shone with an amber light. Zay stood next to him, and closest to the door. Stotts leaned on the other side of the door, across from Zayvion, who I could only assume he had decided was the most dangerous.

Stotts shifted, pulling something out of his pocket.

Every nerve in my body tightened. If that was his gun and he was going to shoot—

“Wait!” I said.

A click echoed in the metal van.

And the light of a flashlight hit the floor.

“What?” Paul asked, shining the beam up on the ceiling so it gave a better ambient light—just enough that we could actually see one another.

I swallowed hard, more than once, trying to choke my heart back down out of my throat. Sweet hells, I thought he was going to shoot him. Shoot Zay.

“Nothing,” I said a little shakily. “I thought.” I looked over at Zayvion, who closed his eyes a little too long and shook his head.

He knew exactly what I thought was going to happen. Could probably feel the echo of my heart beating in his chest.

“Nothing,” I said again.

Paul glanced over at Zayvion, who gave him a don’t-fuck-with-me glare.

Stotts’ expression changed, softened. “I wouldn’t do that, Allie. Not that way. And not now. I’m not your enemy.”

“Might be a bit more convincing on that if you weren’t just waving a gun around at us, mate,” Shame said.

“Would you have walked unarmed into a room full of armed magic users?” Stotts asked.

“Probably,” Shame and Terric said at the same time.

“Death wish,” Terric supplied helpfully.

Paul nodded, his gaze on Shame. “That explains some things about you, Mr. Flynn.”

“Oh, piss off, Ter,” Shame said. “It’s not a damn death wish. I just know how much my pain is worth.”

The van took a sharp right and we all braced. I hoped that meant we were near the park.

We’d need to get Cody across the park to Stone before the police closed in on us—if they were closing in on us. I hadn’t heard from Victor this entire time. I hoped everything was okay with him.

Wait. Cody! I’d forgotten about his ghost self. I squinted against the light in the van, looking for the ghost.

“I’m right here,” he said softly at my elbow. I jumped and glanced at him. He was right next to me, but little more than a shade in the darkness. I realized he had one hand clutching the quilt in my arms.

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

“Yes. But I’ve been holding on to Mama for a long time. It’s hard to let go and haunt something else.”

The quilt was not only Mama’s—it looked handmade. I was sure it had covered and comforted many of her Boys she had brought in off the street. Just as it was comforting Cody.

“Can I help any?” I asked.

“You could tell Zayvion to Unclose me so we can be together,” he said. “Alive Cody and me. That’s what I need. That’s all I need.”

Yeah, about that. I hadn’t even asked Zayvion if he
would do it. And I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to do it. Unclosing someone wasn’t an easy spell. To do it right, Zayvion had said the person needed to have some time to recover. Which meant the faster we could get to the Unclosing, the quicker Cody would be able to get his wits together, and then, hopefully, be able to unlock that spell.

And all of this had to be done in the hardest place in Portland from which to draw on magic.

A lot was hanging on this.

No, everything was hanging on this. I looked over at Zayvion. He was still standing, holding on to a loading strap, resting his head against the wall of the truck and watching Stotts through lowered lids.

And that was when I knew it wouldn’t matter. Zayvion would do this, no matter how much it hurt, no matter how hard it was. Because it was the only way to protect the innocent, and to save magic. It was the only way to uphold the vows he still held true.

The van finally rolled to a stop and the engine went silent. I could hear Hayden shut the cab door, then jog back toward us, his boots loud on the pavement. He lifted the latch and opened the door.

The smells of the river, recently mowed grass, and the cool dew of night rolled into the van. We were here. We were somewhere beneath the big arch of St. Johns Bridge.

“Everyone out.” Hayden held his hand up for Zayvion, who took it, and jumped down out of the van.

It didn’t take us long to unload onto the grass, and start walking toward the middle of the park.

Electric lights lined the concrete path and gave off enough illumination that Paul pocketed his flashlight. He was walking with Nola, talking quietly. Cody strolled
along with them, taking in the park like he was on some great adventure in a strange land.

Maeve and Hayden were in the lead not too far ahead of them, and Terric, Shame, Davy, and Collins were all walking not too far behind them.

Which left the ghost Cody and Zayvion and me to bring up the rear.

Zay reached out and wrapped his arm across my back, and I shifted the quilt to slide my arm across his back too.

He was hurting. A lot. Enough that I hissed and then opened my mouth a little more to try to breathe away the pain coming off him.

“You’re hurting.”

“Yes,” he said.

There was no use for us to hide it from each other, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it either. No one but Zay could Unclose Cody.

“Give you a back rub,” I said.

“Mmm. Now?”

“After this is all done. I’ll get you naked, I’ll get me naked, and I’ll warm the oil.”

I could feel the flush of pleasure that rolled down his spine.

“Then what?” he asked.

“I’ll lay you down on the bed, pour some of the oil in my hands, then start here.” I slid my hand down and rubbed it up his ass, slowly. “Of course since I’ll be straddling you, I’m bound to get some of that oil on me. Might get messy.”

“I like where this is going.” He glanced over at me. “I can handle this.”

He didn’t mean the back-rub fantasy—he meant magic. “I know you can,” I said. But what I didn’t say was
how much it killed me not to be able to use magic. Not to be able to help him bear this cost I was telling him he had to pay. I hated having my hands tied. Hated not being able to carry my own weight in this fight.

“We’re going to get through this,” he said.

I nodded. “Sure we are.” But that didn’t even sound convincing to me.

“O
h!” Cody squealed from ahead of us. “Monster! Monster is here.” He took off running toward Stone and Victor.

Nola called his name, but he didn’t listen.

Ghost Cody, drifting next to me, pulled in a little closer to the quilt, as if uncomfortable to be out in the open. “Have you asked him?” he said.

“Who?”

“Zayvion. Have you asked him to Unclose me?”

No time like the present. I took a deep breath.

“Cody wants you to Unclose him.”

“I’m going to,” Zay said. “But it’s going to take a little time. I Closed him twice, so we’ll need to do it in stages.”

“Will it hurt, do you think?” Cody didn’t sound worried, just curious.

I passed the question along to Zayvion.

“It will be disorienting,” he said. “But not painful. Not painful for him.”

“I can Proxy,” I said.

“No.”

“Zay—”

“No.”

“Really?” I said. “Because the knight-in-shining-armor thing you have going is a nice look, but it is so last season, Jones. Just because I can’t use magic doesn’t
mean I’ve forgotten how to deal with pain. You Unclose Cody; I’ll Proxy.”

Zayvion stopped and swung his arm forward. Since my arm was still locked around his back, I had to take an extra couple steps and turn toward him.

He pulled me close. “Listen to me.” He dragged his thumb along the whorls of magic that ran from my temple down the side of my face, his golden gaze burning into me. He cupped my jaw and brushed his thumb over my lips, his mouth opening slightly as if hungry to taste me.

“What—”

“Listen.” He bent his head, just enough that his eyes were even with mine. He looked away from my eyes, his gaze falling to my lips. And then he kissed me.

I melted against him, opening my mouth and savoring the flavor of peppers mixed with the taste of him. His shoulders rolled as he shifted around me, holding me as if he could guard us from prying eyes, from the world.

As if his body alone could shelter me from the night.

I shivered with the want of that, to find myself lying warm and safe in his arms, far away from this fear, this pain.

I pushed my hands under his coat, palms pressing up his sides, wanting the heat of his body against more than just my hands. I shifted closer, pressing my hips against his.

Zay made a soft sound deep in the back of his throat and drew his hands up my back, his fingers sliding up into my hair and clenching there.

Then his pain rolled though him, rolled through me, washing over us like a wave. We endured it, caught on exhalation, caught in his pain and so much more. His
fear for me, his love for me, his need for me, all wrapped around us, blending with that pain, thickening it with an aching sweetness. It was heady. Intoxicating. Overwhelming.

I was drowning, breathless in the heat of his emotions. Breathless in the heat of him.

Zayvion gently pulled away, breaking our kiss, but not our connection.

“No,” he whispered.

And I understood. It was going to take a lot of his strength to Unclose Cody. He knew he could do it, but after that, the pain might be more than he could bear and remain conscious or sane. If he used me as Proxy, I’d be in pain too. I might even be unconscious. We were too close together to work Proxy.

Soul Complements meant we could make magic do things no one else could make it do. But I couldn’t use magic right now. And if I were bearing Zay’s Proxy price, it was entirely possible neither of us would be worth anything to anyone.

Soul Complements or not.

“I want,” Zay began, then, “I
need
you to watch over me. And Cody. The only thing that matters right now is unlocking Stone.”

He stepped back and held me at arm’s length, pausing a moment as if trying to get his footing that far away from me. “You have to make sure we win this.” His gaze searched mine and he smiled. “Because I want that back rub.”

The heat he had planted in me bloomed across my stomach and pooled at the base of my spine. Lord, the man could get under my skin. I licked my bottom lip, savoring the taste of him that lingered there.

“Let’s do this,” I said.

“Let’s,” he agreed.

We turned, holding hands now, just holding hands, and crossed the park to where everyone was standing around Stone in a circle.

As we got closer, I heard Paul talking to Victor.

“…all of them,” Paul was saying.

Victor didn’t look convinced. “If I do that, and at this point I don’t see why I wouldn’t, you have to understand it will take you time—hours, if not a few days—to recover from it.”