Darius flinched and tried to dodge, but he was too late. The spell puffed like baby’s breath before sparkling blue and green. It was very pretty, which meant it was also potent and probably dangerous. Dizzy liked to build a false sense of security into his spells, usually by way of lovely colors or smells. The spell that shot magical acid strong enough to rot flesh looked like a fuzzy puppy before it exploded.
I was so glad he was on my side.
Darius convulsed and his fingers bent backward, cracking.
“Oh no!” Dizzy said, finally realizing who it was. “Oh no. He’s trapped in the spell. Callie, hurry!”
“What’s happen— Oh! I need to find—”
I didn’t wait for Callie to dig into her satchel.
Fire shot out from my fingers and covered the spell, but it had a volatile heat that immediately went to war with my fire magic. It would take finesse to keep it from exploding as it unraveled. Darius’s limbs clearly didn’t have that kind of time.
Another crack filled the air, making my teeth grind, and I opened up and let the cold surge through me. I didn’t try for it, or work at it…I just surrendered to the moment. My fear for Darius ate through the rage that pulsed up with the power.
A solid wall of air wedged between Darius, and Dizzy and Callie, my subconscious clearly wanting the threat kept at bay even though logic said the dual mages weren’t an enemy. Back in control, I draped the spell that was torturing Darius with my colder magic, the effect manifesting as crystals of ice, frosting over the spell and wiping out the lovely sparkly affect. Another crack sounded from Darius. Fear pumped up my adrenaline.
My fire magic swirled beneath the ice, power pumping higher than I could comfortably control in normal situations. This time I didn’t balk. I used the fire to drill down into the spell as the ice slowly ate away at it from the outside. The intricate hex unraveled, fiber by fiber, getting angry as it did so.
I pulled out the fire and pushed the ice down into the frayed spell, the effect like water freezing within the cracks. The swell of magical violence stopped immediately. When I cracked the crystals of ice encrusting the spell, the whole shebang shattered like glass, falling to the floor before melting into nothingness.
I rushed forward. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
Darius’s tightened eyes connected to mine like a lifeline. A vein in his jaw pulsed. That was the only indication of his intense pain.
“You are not having a very good day,” I said, ready to grab his fingers and bend them straight. Though gross and stomach-churning, that would make it easier for him to heal.
“I can fix that,” Callie said, knocking at the solid air in front of her. It didn’t make a sound. “Reagan, let me in and I can heal him. Mostly. I think. Worst case, I can dull the pain while you straighten his fingers.”
“Clothes,” Darius said with a heavy voice. Those last two breaks were arms. That must’ve hurt something awful. He was clearly ready to escape into his monster form to heal more quickly.
“Yeah, sure. Callie, close the door,” I said, hurrying to undo the buttons on Darius’s shirt. “Can I just rip this, or…”
“I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“Only you would rather endure horrible pain than see harm come to your designer clothes,” I mumbled.
I pushed the fabric off his shoulders and carefully down his arms. At least they were in reasonably straight lines. I quickly undid his belt and pants before pushing the fabric down his legs. Without hesitation, I hooked my thumbs into the elastic of his boxer briefs and pushed them down as well.
“Crisis aside, I do not like how comfortable you are with taking off his clothing, Reagan,” Callie said.
“Not his specifically,” I answered quickly. “Just guys in general. I study the arts of removing men’s underwear.”
“This is no time to joke, Reagan,” Dizzy said, picking at his nail. “That was a truly nasty spell. Penny worked with us on the power for that one. Normal men would’ve passed out from pain. Lesser vampires would’ve slipped into a rage and killed us all upon being freed. We shouldn’t have created it. We shouldn’t do something just because we can. But…in our defense, it was only because we were nervous about the Mages’ Guild coming for us. We—”
Clothes removed, Darius wasted no time turning into his monster form. Claws from his feet clicking on the hardwood floor, he made his way back to my room.
I grimaced on his behalf. “That guy deals with an awful lot where it concerns me. He and the warehouse are going to turn on me one of these days.” I sighed, because even if I told him to get lost (and I had), he’d stick around. And he’d keep on sticking around, I had no doubt, regardless of what came.
The surge of power within me drained away, my fire back to normal, and my ice disappearing altogether. I’d need to think on how I’d managed to summon and use the ice so readily. Although, admitting to the why of that situation would be dicey. That might call up the dreaded L-word.
I grimaced. I was in pretty deep where it concerned that vampire.
The invisible partition I’d put up had dissipated with the ice magic. I started into the kitchen, thankful that Callie and Dizzy followed me in.
“Does Penny have one of those spells?” I asked as I took down a bottle of whiskey. I hesitated. “Would you rather have wine than the whiskey?” I asked them.
“Whiskey. Two fingers. No ice.” Dizzy ran his hand over his glistening forehead. “Maybe three fingers.”
“A glass of wine for me,” Callie said.
“Penny has a few different spells that are just as powerful,” Dizzy said as he sat at the small round table in the corner of the kitchen. “Any spell she helps us with, or makes on her own, will be potent. But I trained her on the importance of safety when carrying around spells of that magnitude.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You taught her the importance of safety, did you? The same guy who just blasted an ally?”
“Let’s hope the pupil surpasses the teacher,” Callie huffed, and shook her head. I could always count on her to see the humor in dire situations.
“I didn’t expect him to be there!” Dizzy yelled. I couldn’t as easily count on his levelheadedness. “I was worried about barging into Reagan’s home, since she can be unhinged when people just waltz in. Then a larger-than-most vampire was hulking by the door, claws out and war on his face—what did you expect? You’ve dragged me along to all these battles lately. I’m jumpy.”
“Darius is jumpy, too. He was not happy about someone showing up at my door unexpected,” I said softly, feeling the uncertainty rise again. It annoyed me. I wanted to stab something because of it, but it was all my stuff. I’d have to replace it or fix it, and that was too much effort. “Do you think he knows something I don’t?”
“Reagan, how many times do you need to hear this?” Callie accepted her glass of wine with a thanks. “He will always know something you don’t. A great many things, probably. Most won’t concern you, sure. But some probably will, and you are only in the loop when he needs you for something.”
I shook my head and looked away. That wasn’t how our relationship worked anymore. We’d advanced to another level.
At least, we’d better have.
I really should’ve threaten-questioned him more recently…
Dizzy gulped down his whiskey before handing it back. “Another. With a cube of ice. I’ll sip the second one.”
“I’m driving, then?” Callie asked.
“Yes. That spell was nasty. I feel terrible. I should’ve known there wouldn’t be danger in Reagan’s house. With her in it, I mean. Poor Darius.” Dizzy shook his head.
I furnished him with the bottle.
We stopped and started a dozen trivial conversations, each of them interrupted with Dizzy asking, “Should you go check on him? You never did bend back his fingers.”
“If he needed help, he’d ask me,” I would say.
“Vampires don’t ask for help.”
“This one does. From me, at least. Trust me, Dizzy, he’ll let me know when he needs something.” I just hoped he waited to ask for that something until the dual mages were gone, because I knew it would be blood he needed.
A half-hour later, a hard rap sounded at the door. I paused with my glass of wine halfway to my mouth. Callie’s eyebrow quirked.
“I’m not usually this popular.” I frowned. Was this what Darius had been worried about?
I stood slowly and tapped the gun wrapped in a holster around my thigh.
“I admit it, you were right,” Callie murmured to Dizzy. “From now on, we’ll knock out a code and wait for her to answer the door. She’s too keyed up for a normal house call.”
“All my friends are within these walls,” I said. “And it’s too late for a door-to-door salesman, assuming any are brave enough to come around here. I can’t see this being a normal house call.”
“Then what is it?” Callie asked as she stood and opened her satchel for easy access.
Dizzy stood, too, but the quick motion caused him to sway. He braced a hand on the table. “Let’s hope it’s the salesman, because I’m not so steady.”