Natural Dual-Mage (Page 43)

“All right.” Emery clapped once. “Let’s get rolling. Roger, those of you who are in human form can probably sit this one out. We have plenty of power at our disposal, not to mention several booby traps that Penny and I can activate. Save the majority of your power for the next leg.”

Callie and Dizzy hurried up the road toward Emery, clearly not wanting to be left out like my mother.

“Guard her until we can get her inside,” I told Cahal, pointing at Veronica.

“You took the note. My contract has been initiated. I am only to guard you,” he replied.

I gave him a flat stare. “I don’t need you up there. But Veronica needs you down here.”

He stared at me without comment.

“Hello?” Getting frustrated, I very nearly magically slapped him. “You essentially work for me, and I say you need to stay down here.”

Blank stare.

While his eyes were certainly beautiful, I wasn’t in the mood to sit and stare at them all day. “We’re not going to get along, you and I.”

“Penny,” Reagan said, stalking toward Emery. “You’re wasting your time with him. Contract killers—or defenders, in this case—do their job, and that’s it.”

I ground my teeth, wishing for a way around this.

“We’ll watch her,” Roger said. “My people have scouted out the area down here. We’re safe at the moment, and should their people invade the area, we’ll handle it.” Roger shifted his gaze from Cahal for long enough to meet my eyes, his look full of assurance and confidence. She’d be fine.

I nodded. It would have to do. I was out of time.

“You are…very skilled, I can tell,” Veronica said in a wispy voice. Her gaze started to dip.

I elbowed her. “Get a hold of yourself,” I said through my teeth. She started and her face flared red again. “Stay safe. Let them protect you.”

That handled (there was nothing I could do about Veronica’s wandering eyes), I jogged up to join the others. Cahal kept pace effortlessly beside me.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Emery said as I neared him. “Penny and I will take the left side of the house from the driveway. The Bankses will take the right. We’ll hit them with some intense spells. Create fear. Shifters…” He stopped and waited for the animals to gather. Roger and a couple of the others walked up behind them, probably to make sure the plan was sound. “You cut through these woods here…” Emery pointed. “Go around to the back and come at them that way. We honestly have no idea if anyone warned this crew we’d be coming. Based on the fact that no one is watching this road—”

“I’ve taken out all the sentries,” Cahal said, staring straight ahead.

Emery paused with his mouth open, possibly waiting for an explanation of some kind. When he didn’t get it, he said, “Are you sure you got everyone?”

“Yes,” Cahal answered. “I didn’t want anything to impede my transaction with Penelope Bristol.”

He kept saying “Penelope.” It probably just reflected his devotion to the contract he’d signed. But I wondered…aside from my mother, who certainly would’ve told me had she hired an extremely scary magical creature to protect me, only vampires called me Penelope. From what I’ve heard, it was never just a gift when it came from a vampire.

Fear wormed through my stomach as Emery continued discussing his plan of attack with the shifters.

Vampires were crafty. They hedged their bets. And they didn’t play fair. Anyone at all could have sent Cahal, including someone from the other side.

“How do I know you were actually sent to protect me?” I asked him, stepping closer.

He turned a little, letting his gaze fall to me. “Because I told you so.”

“I don’t know you from Peter. How can I be sure you’re not lying?”

“I am a druid.”

I put out my hands. “That means nothing to me. I don’t know anything about you.”

“They can’t lie,” Reagan said, clearly eavesdropping.

“They can’t, or they aren’t supposed to?”

“Can’t,” she answered. “They take a blood oath when they’re young.”

“What if he didn’t take the oath?”

Reagan scratched her nose. “Don’t know.”

“Then I would’ve died many lifetimes ago,” he said. He didn’t elaborate on that point. Before I could push for more, Emery glanced at me expectantly. I lifted my eyebrows, silently asking what he needed.

“Ready?” he asked.

I stared at Cahal for another moment, feeling a tight ball of anxiety sitting in the pit of my stomach.

“You cannot keep me from protecting you,” he said in a low hum that spread a feeling of trust through my body. “Your safety is my duty.”

“Stop emotionally manipulating me,” I ground out, feeling the pressure of everyone waiting on me to get going.

A small smile curved his lips. “I cannot make a person feel. I can simply be who I am with conviction, and let them decide for themselves. Listen to your magic, Penelope Bristol. It will not lead you astray.”

Frustration gnawed at me, but what could I do? Time was running out, and everything pointed to him being legit.

Then again, if he was legit, why was the person who’d sent him trying to keep it a mystery?

“Fine,” I said through clenched teeth. “Let’s go.”

I turned and started walking, joined immediately by Emery.

“I don’t like all the unknowns in this endeavor,” I said, still feeling frustrated.

“No one does. The odds are stacked against us.” He took my hand. “But it isn’t the first time. If there is any certainty here, it is that we perform incredibly well under pressure.”

The shifters took off, cutting through the woods so they could do their jobs and come around from behind. Cahal drifted up nearly to my side, staying a little apart and behind us.

We approached a curve in the road. Once we got around it, we’d be able to see the house. Expectation filled me, and we drifted toward the trees. A little farther and Emery let go of my hand and motioned for me to stay back.

“Let me check it out.” He took cover behind a large tree at the last bend in the road before slowly looking around it. A moment later, he was back and everyone leaned in to hear what he’d seen. “They’ve got ten mages sitting out front, facing our way. Bored, by the look of them. I doubt they’ve seen any activity for as long as they’ve been here.” He glanced at Cahal for any input, and got no response. “There are also groups gathered near the house. Most of them are working on the ward, and the rest are a bit removed, idle until needed. They’re all in a stupor. If we go in hard and fast, we’ll have the upper hand.”

“What are the odds the mages at the Guild will be in the same stupor after waiting all this time?” Callie asked, digging through her satchel.

“Slim to none, I’d imagine. We caught them off guard last time. They won’t let it happen again. These are likely the derelicts sent to thin us out, if possible. What happened at Roger’s house showed us that.”

“But it thins them out, too,” I whispered. “It lessens their horde.”

“Absolutely.” Emery ran his hand down my arm, leaving a trail of lightning in its wake. “Ready, Turdswallop?”

“Yep. But you lead. I don’t want to accidentally blow up another of Darius’s houses.”

He laughed and then took a moment to collect himself. Another moment passed before I realized that wasn’t what he was doing at all. He was waiting for the older dual-mage pair to get all their ducks in a row. As soon as their hands were filled, Emery nodded.

“Give ’em hell.”

29

Emery peeled out from around the tree and started at a fast run. I was with him a moment later, ready to help him take the brunt of the attack from the lookouts so Callie and Dizzy would have an easier in. Sprinting at the house, I immediately loosed a spell at the slouching mages out front. Emery followed it up with another.

Magic slammed into their bodies, catching them completely by surprise. Ingredients fell from their hands and littered the ground as they clutched their chests or immediately sank to the ground. Magic boiled through the air and the wind kicked up, pushing at me from behind. A spell from the dual-mages whirled past me, building strength as it went. It neared the house before it formed a full tornado, its funnel starting high and dropping down until it churned the dirt.

“Very cool,” I said as it moved off to the right, toward more surprised mages. Some reached for their satchels, and others looked up in fright and started back-pedaling.

“Harder,” Emery said. His next spell slithered across the ground before starting to roll, shooting out sparks and magical spikes. He was still trying to make fire.

“Nope.” I stole from Reagan, who was running beside us with her sword out. Heat and ice wrapped around me, complex and beautiful. I mixed it with Emery’s and my energy, with our magic, and then added in a dash of the goblin’s donated magic and some silky darkness I realized was from the druid loping behind us.