Natural Dual-Mage (Page 18)

“Wait—” I held up a hand, my back against his front. He wasn’t letting me escape. I rounded on him. “She isn’t one of the core people, is she? Because working with her through text is probably the best strategy. You know this. Everyone knows this. I shouldn’t have to tell you.”

He slid his hands down my back, his touch annoyingly soothing.

“No.” I flared my elbows, shrugging off his hands. “Seriously, she has to go. She’ll harass me constantly about you sleeping in my room. You want me to check out the city with you? Good luck convincing her.”

“Come on, Penny Bristol, let’s say hi to the older half of the crew,” he teased.

I shook my head with my mouth downturned. “Don’t want to.” He turned me around and walked me forward. I was still shaking my head. “Don’t want to. I was really enjoying my freedom.”

The interior of the spacious house was as I remembered it—elegant, rustic, and perfectly decorated for the area. In the living room, Dizzy and Callie were sitting on the couch, their satchels at their feet. Across from them in the leather recliner, her fingers wrapped around the barrel of her shotgun, rocked my overbearing mother.

“Really? You have the shotgun out here?” I slouched as her eyes came around to me. The vampire she’d been berating about security scooted back to the wall, probably relieved to be spared the abuse.

“Have you seen what they have posing for security around here?” She scoured the vampire with another hard look. “Of course I have the shotgun handy.” Her gaze zipped over my shoulder. Reagan was as silent as an elder vampire, but I could feel her magic coming closer. Had she always been this stealthy, or was it another benefit from her bond? “What in the devil happened to your hair?”

“Reagan, now, I thought you were past losing your hair.” Dizzy clasped his hands over his pot belly and clucked his tongue. “You were clearly being too reckless. You’re lucky Callie brought the right supplies to fix you up.”

“It wasn’t me.” Reagan pointed at me. “Her fault.”

“Penny is very good, yes,” Dizzy said, “but she shouldn’t be surprising you with spells. You’ve had much more experience than she has.”

“She didn’t surprise me.” Reagan leaned against the doorframe. “She let it float toward me, nice and slow.” Dizzy and Callie’s expressions closed down into confusion. “She stole some magic from a goblin, and now she can nullify my magic. I couldn’t very well let her threaten me, could I? No, I could not. So I choked her to show her I wasn’t helpless.”

“Come again?” my mother said, inching forward in her seat to look around me and see Reagan.

“She picked up a new trick on a bounty hunting gig. She can now nullify my magic.” Reagan pushed away from the wall. “Or…she could. We haven’t had the chance to try it in the last twenty-four hours. The second the new trick fails, though, it is on.” She moved her finger through the air. “Anyone want a whiskey?”

Callie raised her hand. “How did she— Did you say goblin?” Callie shook her head. “I might need a couple shots to make sense of this.”

“I’ll have a whiskey as well.” My mother raised her hand.

“I see the double standards are in full effect,” I said as my mother adjusted the shotgun so she had a better hold on it. “Suddenly you’re a whiskey drinker, and I suppose you’ll harass me if I partake…”

“Nothing has changed, I’m just not hiding it from you anymore.” My mother waved me on. “Now, go help Reagan get drinks.”

My mouth dropped open, because I’d started walking without meaning to.

“No, no, Emery. You stay here,” my mother said as I left the room. Her tone was ominous.

I should’ve gone back and saved him, but…well, he was a big boy.

“My mother and Callie in the same house is going to be hell,” I said to Reagan as I entered the kitchen. “They fight as often as they get along. And when they get along, they won’t rest until everyone does what they say.”

Reagan chuckled and looked up from pouring the whiskey. “Nah, they’ll be fine. They can bitch to each other when we ignore their express desire that we stay here and out of trouble.”

I slipped onto a chair at the L-shaped island. “What are you planning?”

She took a deep breath and leaned a hand against the counter as Emery entered the kitchen behind me. With a flat expression, he tapped one of the empty glasses and slipped into the seat beside me.

“There’s beer in there.” Reagan jerked her head toward the fridge. “Or wine.”

“I need something stronger,” he said.

“That’s what’s great about dating a vampire.” Reagan went to the freezer and got out an ice cube tray with giant cubes. “All the in-laws are long since dead. He didn’t get so lucky, of course. You think Ms. Bristol is bad? Just think what it must be like when your girlfriend’s dad runs hell.” Reagan pushed a glass of whiskey at me.

I pushed it away again. Spiting my mother wasn’t worth the foul taste. “I thought the Underworld wasn’t hell?”

“Come on; this will help with the headache.” She pushed the glass back.

Emery’s head whipped around, his eyes now studying my face.

“Big mouth,” I mumbled. “But it’s fine.”

“Yeah, sure. Here. Maybe it’ll go down easier with ice.” She dropped one of the large cubes into my glass. Whiskey splashed. “I know how to tell when you’re hurt. I have to, or I might kick you too hard. Although…” She tilted her head. “No headache right now, huh?”

“No. It’s good.” The whiskey smell wafted toward my nose. I grimaced and pushed the glass to the side for Emery. “I’ll have wine or beer. Or water. Water would be a nice option once in a while. You know, so we don’t turn into alcoholics.”

“Says the sheltered girl with the mother who has secretly been drinking her whole life.” Reagan stilled, clearly thinking over what she’d said. “Yeah, good call. You’re probably right to be worried. Beer it is.”

“That’s not…” I let it go. A beer actually sounded good. Traveling in luxury with Darius was definitely awesome, but it still wore on a girl.

“What’d you find out?” Emery asked, dropping his hand to my thigh.

Reagan finished pouring the drinks and pushed the bottle aside. “I found four tripwires that seem to be more of a watch-and-report situation. That definitely sounds like the Guild to me.”

“They’d have to be within…a certain distance for the spells to alert them.” Emery took a sip of his drink and his face tightened up.

“Exactly,” I said. “It’s not good. I don’t know why you bother.”

He squeezed my thigh softly, his eyes twinkling. “How strong were they?” he asked Reagan.

She lounged against the island as Darius came in, dressed “down” in a button-up shirt and designer jeans. If he owned sweats, I’d never seen them. “Upper-middle tier, I’d say.”

“We’re not talking about vampires.” Emery huffed out a laugh.

“Did you know what I meant?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, then.” She glanced at Darius before turning to the cabinets behind her and pulling out another bottle and a snifter. “We’ve also got vampires patrolling. Not ours. They clearly knew where the tripwires were, and avoided them. Middle to lower tier. Minions. They got close enough to the house to make me nervous, but they didn’t mess with the ward.”

“How do you know they were vampires?” I asked.

She spread her hands, the cap still in one of them. “I’m awesome.”

“Riiight…”

“Any shifters?” Emery asked.

She shrugged. “Not in animal form. I didn’t see any tracks. Just boots, shoes, and feet with vampire claws.”

“Is there a way to track those who come onto the property?” Darius asked, joining Reagan at the island. He took his snifter before switching it to the other hand and wrapping his arm around the top of Reagan’s hips. He looked…almost human. “To find out where they go?”

“Yes…” A line formed between Emery’s eyebrows and he turned to look at me, his gaze hazy. “We can track them, but the problem is distance. If they’re far enough away, the magic trail will fade. And it’ll dissipate with time. Which is why I was asking about their power level. They’d have to stay somewhat close to feel anything from the tripwires. A couple miles, maybe, given the power level of the spells. Maybe a touch more.”

“This house isn’t as secluded as it seems,” Darius said. “There is a town not far away. Houses between here and there.” He swirled his cognac, staring down at it. “Tracking them would be answer enough.”

“Tomorrow night, then,” Reagan said.

Darius met her eyes, and silence fell between them.

I lifted my eyebrows. They usually weren’t so lovey-dovey among other people. When my lifted eyebrows didn’t do the trick, I cleared my throat.