Blood Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 2) (6 page)

“No, we haven’t had many opportunities to chat lately.”

“It only just happened a few days ago,” Naomi said. “We tracked down some pirates who were kidnapping fairy-mage hybrid children. They were hired by Darksire.”

“Darksire?” Alex almost laughed. “As in, Darksire the Destroyer?”

Naomi nodded. “The Harbinger of the Black Death himself.”

The fairy tale went that Darksire was an immortal dark fairy who’d caused many calamities over the centuries, his biggest achievement being the Black Death that had decimated Europe’s population. Of course, no one knew if it was true, or who he really was. Fairies weren’t immortal—not even the ones who dabbled in dark magic. And in the stories, Darksire always wore a hood to cover his face. Maybe he was several people. Maybe he didn’t exist at all.

“Kai says Darksire and Alden have a history. A bloody one,” Naomi added. “It could be they’re working together to kidnap supernatural hybrids. Or maybe they’re working against each other.”

“What does that have to do with the Convictionites and what’s going on here?” Alex asked.

“There have been more kidnappings, in other parts of the world. Sera and I didn’t even put a dent in the problem.” Naomi’s shoulders slouched, her usual cheery mood downright gloomy. “Kai has read reports that link some of the kidnappings to the Convictionites. The Magic Council thinks the Convictionites are also abducting hybrids. There was evidence of their presence at some of the kidnapping scenes. It’s all connected. Someway, somehow. Something is going on, Alex. Something wicked.”

“There are more hybrids than ever suddenly popping up in Europe,” Alex said.

“In the US too,” replied Naomi. “Yes, those mystery hybrids are being taken, people who used to be other kinds of supernaturals until they were bitten by a vampire or injected with magic. But most of the victims are people who were born with mixed magic.” Her magic stuttered, clogged by anguish. “Boys, girls, children, adults. No one is safe. My cousin Eva went missing from London just two days ago.”

“That’s why you’re here,” Alex realized.

“Yes,” Naomi said, her magic hardening with resolve. It didn’t take magic to read the determination on her face. “I am going to find her. And I’ll make the sick bastards who took her sorry they ever dared to target our kind.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Common Link

FIVE MINUTES LATER, Alex and Naomi were sipping hot chocolate from big white mugs with silly slogans on the front. Naomi’s read ‘Cup of Tea’, while Alex’s happily proclaimed ‘Dragons shag better’. Alex’s dragon was still chuckling about that one. She seemed to be enjoying it almost as much as Naomi was her cup of tea.

“So you think the kidnappings are related to the Blood Orb?” Alex asked Naomi.

“The Convictionites are the common link. There was evidence of vampires at the kidnapping scenes. And mage magic.”

“The mages wielding the Blood Orb. And the vampires being controlled,” said Alex. “The Convictionites’ supernatural pawns. They’re using them to kidnap hybrids. But why?”

Naomi shook her head. “I don’t know. But we have to stop them.” Desperation leaked off of her, a miasma of overly ripe fruit and sweat.

Alex squeezed her hand. “We will. And we’ll get your cousin back.”

“I’m not surprised she’s using mages. Hypocrite,” Logan bit out the word.

“She?”

“Logan’s mother, the leader of the Convictionites. They don’t see eye-to-eye,” Alex added quickly.

“She kills out of hatred. I kill for profit,” Logan said cooly.

Alex frowned at him. He wasn’t selling himself very well.

Naomi didn’t even blink an eye. “You do seem much more reasonable than those magic haters. Could you use your connections to get us into a Convictionite base?”

“I broke off connections with them long ago. And I won’t be able to trick them, not after what happened at their base in Zurich. We’ll have to do this the stealth way.” He gave Alex a pointed look.

“Hey, I can be stealth,” she protested.

Your stealth operation tonight ended in a hallway full of dead bodies,
her dragon reminded her. Like she needed a reminder about that.

You’re one to talk. You wanted to ice the guard.

I never claimed that
I
was stealth.

“Naomi, do you have a location where they’re bringing the hybrids?” Alex asked.

“Not quite yet. But I’ve looked into other similar disappearances in the area. I know they’re being held somewhere in the city, just not exactly where. Eva’s parents—my family here—live outside the city. They have some powerful magic. They could perform a spell to track her.”

“And have they?” Alex asked.

“No.” She sighed. “The most I’ve been able to get out of them is that Eva is being held in London. They’re too afraid to say more, and they claim they don’t want to put me in danger by telling me where to find her.”

“They don’t know you hunt monsters for a living?” Logan asked.

“Oh, they know, but that doesn’t mean they understand. My family back home on Angel Island is the same. Pacifists, living out in nature, growing magical herbs, singing songs around the campfire. The whole shebang. Whereas I’m the rebel. The fighter. Eva’s parents are afraid. They’re a clan of non-combative fairies, mages, and fairy-mage hybrids. They’ve sworn to uphold a lifestyle of non-violence. They don’t understand that violence sometimes finds you. They won’t go after her, even knowing she’s in danger! I asked them to perform a tracking spell. They refused. They won’t even give me what I need to help her.”

Frustration rolled off of Naomi in staggered waves. She was always so happy, so unbothered by things. Not now. Her magic was crackling with a storm of a million shades of anger.

“Eva is like me,” she said. “She’s also a monster hunter. The two of us always got along so well, like sisters.” Naomi looked at Alex. “Wouldn’t you do anything to save your sister?”

“Yes, of course. You know I would.” Alex wrapped her arm around Naomi’s shoulder, hugging her close. “What do you need from me?”

“I’m going to track Eva down, with or without our family’s help. I’ve seen Sera sniff out magic, tracking it to its source. I was hoping you could do the same for me.”

“This magic runs in families,” Marek said, speaking for the first time since he’d made the hot chocolates for them. “Your sister’s Sniffer skill is ranked #1 in the world.”

“Yeah, well, Sera is much better at sensing magic than I am. I’m more into breaking things.”

Marek nodded. “That’s in line with what I know about you.”

Alex swiped an orange from the decorative bowl on the side table and tossed it at his head. He caught it in a wind spell, then sent it into orbit around himself. Showoff.

“I concur,” Logan said. “You excel at breaking things.”

She tossed an orange at him too. He whipped out a knife and launched it at the orange. The blade skewered the fruit and stapled it to the wall.

“You are both insane,” she told them.

“She throws oranges at us,” Marek said to Logan.

Logan nodded. “And then she complains when we defend ourselves.”

“The only time those two guys agree on anything is when they’re teasing me,” she told Naomi.

The smile had returned to Naomi’s lips. She grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled her off the sofa. “That’s what you get for hanging around with guys for so long. Come on, let’s take a walk.”

Alex grabbed her jacket, then trailed her friend up the stairs. Outside, the air was cool and damp, but at least it had stopped raining. They followed the wet pavement, their heels clapping against the rough concrete, the echoes hard and hollow over the steady hum of distant cars.

“I will try the best I can to help you,” Alex told Naomi. “But I’m just not as good at tracking magic as Sera is.”

“Sera said if the two of you had both been tested in the Games, you would have been the #1 Magic Breaker instead of her.”

“Probably. The boys are right about one thing: I am good at breaking things.” She snorted. “But Sera would keep her #1 Sniffer title. She’s more subtle than I am.”

“The members of the Magic Council know you’re a mage. Is it true that Gaelyn is protecting you from being tested?”

Gaelyn, the world’s oldest immortal, the philanthropist of the supernatural world, had hired her to take down monsters in Europe. He probably hadn’t expected the Convictionites to turn out to be the biggest monsters of them all. Now he was paying her and Logan to take back the Blood Orb and thwart their plans for supernatural extinction.

“I don’t know if he’s protecting me from that,” she told Naomi. “He hasn’t said anything about it. But I think it’s true. He’s the only one who has that much sway over the Magic Council.”

Naomi nodded. They walked side-by-side in silence for a few seconds until she finally broke it once more. “I know,” she said in a whisper so quiet that Alex thought she might have imagined it. But she hadn’t. Naomi continued, still speaking in that low, quiet voice. “I know what you and Sera are. Dragon Born.”

Those two words hung in the air, a hiss of steam in the cold mist. Alex struggled to come up with a response to that, but could only manage a single word. “How?”

“It came out during the last job Sera and I did together. I won’t tell anyone,” she added quickly. “I know what it’s like to be different. And I know you and Sera. You aren’t abominations.” Her magic rang clear and true.

“Thanks.” Alex gave her a half-smile. “Sometimes I’m not so sure.”

“Why do you think this?”

“Oh, it’s not about my birth. Not exactly. It’s just…” Alex looked around, but no one was nearby except an old tabby cat. A normal tabby cat. It didn’t have a speck of magic in it. “Something happened last month in Zurich. I was bitten by a vampire elf, one of those mysterious new hybrids popping up. Turned, not born.”

“And now you think you might be turning into a hybrid too?”

“No,” she said. “Well, not exactly. My body destroys vampire venom. I was bitten by a full vampire a few years ago, and nothing happened. But this time it was different. Something strange is happening to me. As far as I can tell, I’m not turning into a hybrid. There haven’t been any big changes in me. No fangs or super strength or anything like that.” She chewed on her lip. “Ok, maybe I’m a little stronger and faster. And there have been a few other weird things. My magic feels… off. There was one time that I craved Logan’s blood. And then there are the dreams. Vampires chased me, cornering me. I turned around and massacred them all. Then I feasted on their blood.”

“Wow,” Naomi said.

“I know. I’m going crazy.”

“Nah.” Naomi laughed. “I’ve had crazier dreams. Tell me about the blood craving.”

“I didn’t just crave Logan’s blood. I drank it. I couldn’t help myself. The need was overwhelming.”

“What did it taste like?”

“Lots of things. Chocolate, orange, amber, spice. And sex. Most of all that. I never thought blood could be so erotic.”

Naomi snickered. “Well, you know how horny vampires are.”

“And fairies.”

“Yeah. Just be happy you weren’t bitten by a nymph hybrid. They’re the naughtiest of all us fairies,” Naomi said with a delighted smirk. “Have you craved blood since that day?”

“Only in my dreams. I’m hoping my body managed to finally destroy the vampire venom in my blood. But I feel weird. I still have the dreams sometimes, but maybe that’s just my mind messing with me. My magic isn’t quite the same as before. I can’t explain it. I probably should be testing myself like Logan does.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“His mother infused him with magic from birth, essentially turned him into a supernatural-killing weapon. She took control of him once. We think she’ll do it again.”

“Wow, she sounds like one crazy bitch.”

“Yep, I call her the Evil Queen.”

Naomi laughed.

“Logan tests himself. I should do the same. Maybe I could figure out what’s going on with me. The problem is I don’t know how to do that sort of thing. Like at all. I’d probably break the testing equipment.”

“How about Riley?”

“He could do it, no problem,” Alex agreed. “If only he were here. But he’s not. He has to finish school. I want him to have a normal life.”

“Isn’t there anyone else who could help you?”

“I can’t trust just anyone with my blood. With my secret.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t help you. I didn’t pay attention in magic chemistry class. I was too busy flirting with my lab partner. Or was that the teacher? I can’t really remember anymore.” Her gaze drifted up in thought. “But I was referring to Logan. He seems pretty competent with a beaker.”

“How is it you can make even that sentence sound dirty?”

Triumph slid across her lips. “Practice. Lots of practice.” She linked her arm with Alex’s. “He doesn’t know about your unique birth, does he?”

“No.”

Yeah, that would be a fun conversation.
Hey, Logan, guess what? I’m Dragon Born. My sister and I were two souls born into the same body, then our parents separated us with magic into two bodies. All in secret, of course, because our existence is illegal. We’re supposedly abominations. The Magic Council has a standing bounty on Dragon Born mages. Our heads are worth two million dollars each, which would be a nice paycheck even for a big shot assassin like you. Oh, and I have a dragon living in me that I talk to on occasion. Or sometimes I just talk to myself. Because I’m crazy.

Her dragon snickered.

“Do you trust him?” Naomi asked. Alex could hardly hear her over the chuckles inside her own head.

“He’s told me that he can’t be trusted because the Convictionites might find a way to take control over him again.” Despite that—despite her internal ramblings, the lingering fears of living twenty-four years hiding from the death sentence that had hung over her head since birth—she did trust him. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“You love him,” Naomi said.

“Yeah,” Alex admitted. “Is that crazy?”

“No, it’s not crazy.” She winked. “Just really, really obvious.”

“Well, I’ve never been accused of being subtle.”

“Tell him what you are,” Naomi urged, her smile persisting. “It won’t matter to him. He only cares
who
you are. But once he knows, he can help you figure out what’s going on with your magic.”