Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (4 page)

“No time,” I answered. My employee Bryn had graciously taken over my shifts in the kitchen. Todd, the espresso wizard, eagerly stepped up to full-time. And my mother, Scarlett, was doing the bookkeeping. ‘Cake in a Cup’ was my baby. Tending to it had been the first phone call I’d made, the first moment I’d made it out of the nexus — after letting my Gran know I was alive, of course. She wasn’t too inclined to take Kett and Desmond’s word on that. “I was worried that bouncing in and out of the nexus would draw too much attention.”

“Cupcakes? What are cupcakes?” Drake asked.

Kandy looked at me as if I was a complete stranger with two heads. “The dragon doesn’t know what cupcakes are, Jade?” she mock-whispered. “Your world really is collapsing.”

“On hold is a more accurate assessment … I hope.”

“Maybe Blackwell has a kitchen,” Kett said.

Now it was our turn to stare at the vampire, who might just have made some sort of joke. He looked back at us all with his cool demeanor firmly in place. It was quite the poker face, but it brought me back on topic, which might have been Kett’s point.

“Is Blackwell inside?”

“Haven’t seen him,” Kandy said.

“Yes,” Kett replied at the same time.

“He could be popping in and out with that amulet of his,” I said. Blackwell wore a ruby amulet that tasted — to me — like sour cream and butter on a baked potato rather than his own earthy cabernet sorcerer magic. The amulet was an exceedingly rare transportation device, most likely created by an alchemist far more powerful than I was many hundreds of years ago. I gathered this artifact was also renowned among collectors — Kett had identified it by my brief description alone. Blackwell had called it his “most precious possession.” It was also how he’d fled the Sea Lion Caves like the utter coward he was.

Kett shook his head and turned his gaze back to the castle.

“The vamp doesn’t think the sorcerer would leave with us out here,” Kandy elaborated.

“Too much to protect,” Kett murmured. His anticipation was marked, though maybe it was just the tingle of pleasure I felt from the life bond that colored his tone. That was new, unexpected, and disconcerting. I wondered if Desmond felt that same sensation through our life debt bond. I really hoped not, but seeing as he’d felt my pain when Sienna tortured me, he’d probably felt my desire afterward as well. Since then, I hadn’t taken the necklace off in Desmond’s presence. I never took it off any more, not even in the shower. If it wasn’t for my necklace I doubt I would have survived … well, Sienna. Actually, I still didn’t know if I would survive my sister.

“Any visitors?” I asked. My voice was louder and sharper than I’d intended. I meant had Sienna shown up. The sudden silence that fell between us told me they knew who I meant. The mere mention of her dampened our easy camaraderie.

“No,” Kandy said at last.

“Did you knock?” Drake asked.

The green of Kandy’s magic rolled over her eyes as she grinned at the fledgling guardian. “Yeah, we knocked.”

Drake nodded, very serious. “Plan B, then?”

“What’s plan B?” Kandy asked.

I turned to the green-haired werewolf and grinned at her. The smile stretched my face as if the muscles were unused to the expression. “We huff and we puff —”

“And we blow the door down,” Kandy said with an edgy chuckle.

“Artillery fortified,” Kett repeated.

“You think Blackwell has guns set up?” Guns weren’t something I’d considered. Magic screwed with such weapons so much that a sorcerer of Blackwell’s power should find them utterly useless. And while just shooting Sienna from afar was a lovely — if bloody-thirsty — daydream, she shielded herself with so much magic that a crossbow or bullet wouldn’t get within a foot of her. Bullets — if Blackwell had somehow circumvented how magic screwed with guns — might work against Kandy though. Silver bullets, specifically.

Kett didn’t answer, which was typical when he didn’t know an answer … or considered it beneath him.

“What about outer defenses and perimeter spells?”

“Disabled,” Kett said. He sounded so pleased with himself I was surprised he didn’t wink at me.

“Yeah, and no scaling the walls,” Kandy said. She ran her hands over her arms as if remembering something nasty. I could hear her wolf in her voice, probably manifesting along with the thickening tension. I felt it too.

“A month is a long time to be away from your pack,” I said quietly.

Kandy shrugged. “The fledglings must be avenged.”

My stomach bottomed out. She meant Jeremy, who Sienna killed with Blackwell’s sacrificial knife, and whose blood raised one huge, nasty demon. And she meant Mory.

“Have you heard …” I couldn’t bring myself to ask — again — if Mory was dead.

“No, dowser,” Kett said. “But the necromancer lives.” His cool tone instantly soothed me. I liked the soothing part, but I didn’t like the instant part. Since when did I feel comfortable around Kett? He liked to go all fangy and blood-lusty in tense situations … like this one.

“Do you have actual confirmation?”

“She wears a necklace constructed by you. She lives.”

“You don’t know.” I choked down the emotion threatening to close off my throat. “You don’t know that the necklace will … can … withstand three months of whatever Sienna’s been doing.”

Kett inclined his head, then turned his attention back to the castle.

I hated being potentially right about such a thing, more than I hated being wrong about everything else. Why had Sienna kidnapped Mory in the first place? For collateral? Even if it had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, why hadn’t she abandoned the necromancer as soon as she’d gotten clear of the caves? Or — as dreadful as the thought was — why not kill Mory and leave her body on Gran’s doorstep, or by the bakery to further torture me?

Kandy touched my shoulder, just lightly. But I could feel the brush of her dark-chocolate magic, and I welcomed the taste along with the gesture.

The castle intimidated me. I could admit it. I’d come through the portal all cocky and focused, and had immediately gotten derailed by Amber and Drake. Now, standing before the centuries-old structure, I was waffling. I was more unsure of my ‘find Blackwell/find Sienna’ plan with Kandy and Kett at my side than I’d been without them. Having them here made the last months far more real than that time had actually felt in the day-to-day living of it.

“We came all this way. Maybe Blackwell will play nice if we ask nicely?”

“He does have the hots for you,” Kandy agreed. “But what if — faced with all four of us — he decides to pull more of those demons out of his pocket?”

“Demons, yeah!” Drake cried, utterly delighted at this possibility.

“One doesn’t collect those kind of demons, werewolf,” Kett said without turning away from the castle.

Kandy mimed ripping off the vampire’s head and kicking it like a football behind his back.

“That was a greater demon,” Kett continued. “I wouldn’t have thought Blackwell was powerful enough to call it forth.”

“He seemed surprised himself,” I said. “Right before he ran like the utter coward he is.” And with that terrible memory on the edge of my mind, I turned my reluctant feet toward the main entrance.

Kett stepped up to follow, just behind my left shoulder. “Fighting a coward is a very different prospect.”

I nodded.

Kett stepped sideways into the shadows as we moved past the low fence and stood before the spur, as he had called it. The latticed iron gate, which was barely illuminated in the moonlight, loomed before us. It was wide enough that — if it stood invitingly open — we four probably could have walked through abreast. However — closed — it was secured at the top, bottom, and to each side into the thick stone walls and roof of the spur. Even Kandy, as slim as she was, wouldn’t find an opening wide enough to slip through.

“There’ll be traps,” I said. “Even if he agrees to let us in voluntarily. He likes to hide spells in things, boxes and such.” I directed this last caution to Drake, who was practically vibrating directly behind me. I took a deep breath and reminded myself the thirteen-year-old was invulnerable. If I tried to make him stay in the truck, he’d probably get into worse trouble than he would surrounded by Kandy, Kett, and me. Or so I hoped. I had a bad habit of being wrong. Like, a whole lot.

“You got any chocolate, Jade?” Kandy whispered.

“Just your magic, Kandy.”

“That doesn’t help me,” Kandy bitched, but I could hear that she was smiling.

I stepped forward until I was an arm’s length from the outer wards. Those defenses seemed to be attached to the stone of the curtain wall rather than placed in the yard itself. I reminded myself of the power of Amber’s ancestral stones. This was Blackwell’s ancestral home. Being a sorcerer, he couldn’t access natural magic the same way a witch could. But this castle had been in his family for generations. Yeah, the dragon library was extensive and detailed. It was finding the information that had taken the time. Digging through handwritten chronicles was way more intensive than Googling. Anyway, Blackwell’s magic would be potent here.

I opened my dowser senses to the magic of my three companions, breathing in Kett’s cool peppermint, Kandy’s bitter chocolate, and Drake’s honeyed almond. I firmed my offensive stance — left foot forward, right foot back with more weight on the ball of the foot than the heel — and ran my fingers across the knife at my hip. I twined the fingers of my left hand through the wedding ring charms of my necklace.

I could do this. Blackwell might be able to take on any one of us solo, but four together were pretty darn intimidating. Castle or no castle.

Of course, I was deliberately not factoring in that Blackwell owned the world’s foremost collection of magical artifacts — well, apart from the dragon cache. That was an unknown bitch. This collection ranked high on the dragon watch list, and it usually took the end of the world to get the attention of one of the nine. Speaking of bitches, Scotland was under Suanmi’s protection. One look at the fire breather and Blackwell would give up his best friend. Too bad Drake’s guardian hated me, and that anything below nuclear annihilation was beneath her notice.

Then Kett laughed. He was enjoying himself, maybe even feeding off my anxiousness. I wrapped my hand around the hilt of my knife as his pleasure and anticipation hit me through the life debt bond he owed me. Well, that was new. Of course, I hadn’t actually been in the same room as him since extracting the bond to save him from the cleansing of the dragons.

I laughed, deep in my throat and quietly. The vampire’s confidence was infectious. What was the point in being immortal — he was thinking — without a challenge?

“Okay,” Kandy said. “Now you’re both being really creepy.”

“Power up, wolf,” I said. “It’s time to dance.”

Kandy laughed. “I like it when you dance, dowser.”

“Everyone likes it when Jade dances,” Kett said from the shadows to my left.

“Is it like when she fights?” Drake asked. “Because that’s pretty cool.”

“Hush, youngling,” Kandy said. “The elders are being inappropriate.”

I laughed again, lighter and more freely this time. Then I pulled my knife from its invisible sheath and flung it at the wards that covered the gate before me. The knife crashed against the magical barrier with a blue-streaked crack of energy.

“Knock-knock, sorcerer!” I called as the knife boomeranged back into my open palm. Yep, the blade returned to me at mere thought now. This newly refined trick made me rather difficult to disarm. “Time to come out and play.”

“Yeah, or we’ll huff and we’ll puff and we’ll blow your castle down,” Kandy cried, repeating the story book mantra from before.

I laughed. The anticipation of the fight invigorated me. I itched to draw my new sword, to press my strength against another’s. To be beaten and get up. Or to triumph. I was game for either.

Who the hell had I turned into?

“Jade Godfrey.” A voice floated out of the darkness behind the latticed metal gates on the other side of the wards. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You invited me, Blackwell,” I answered. “You know, before you colluded to murder two innocent teenagers and aid my sister in draining my magic.”

Blackwell stepped forward into a wash of moonlight that just touched the gate. His pale face appeared to be slashed to pieces by the iron latticework. His dark hair and clothing blended into the night. The effect was creepy to say the least.

“You must know, dowser, that was never my intention. I was blinded —”

“A sorcerer of your lineage and power was blinded by a half-witch in a blood frenzy?” Kett’s voice cut through the shadows that hid him. “That is difficult to believe.”

Blackwell flicked his eyes to my left, but he didn’t seem to be able to see the vampire. “I was blinded by the thought of opening the portal, especially after I knew what it was. And, indeed, by the promise of your magic, Jade. The promise of a dowser of your obvious power.” His hand lifted to touch his chest, just briefly. I gathered he wore his precious amulet beneath his dark sweater, but I couldn’t feel its magic through the wards. “Nothing more or less.”

“Take down the wards, Blackwell,” I said. “And I’ll give you a taste.”

Blackwell tilted his head, assessing me. Then he grinned. “It’s unfortunate that you come to me so heavily guarded, dowser. Otherwise, I’d gladly take you up on that offer.”

“Scared of the vampire and the werewolf?” I said, goading him. “They didn’t stop you before.”

“But they are not all who stand with you, Jade Godfrey,” Blackwell replied. “The wards block me from fully understanding, but you have a third with you as well.”

“Perhaps that’s my magic you feel.”

Blackwell laughed. “You’re a tease, Jade.” His use of my first name was intimate. I didn’t like it at all.

“This is so boring!” Drake complained. His voice was shockingly loud against the quiet banter Blackwell and I had been trading. “We can crack the wards. Right there.” The fledgling shoved his arm by my shoulder and pointed to the base of the gate. “Let’s get to the tricks. You’ll have tricks, won’t you, sorcerer?”