Blood Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 2) (8 page)

Yeah, right. He sounded like a vampire who’d got caught with his fangs on the carotid.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if we had a look around,” Logan said, smooth as cream. The man had missed his calling as a police officer.

“Of course we mind. This ain’t no peepshow,” said Mr. Wiggly. “We don’t need the Magic Council sending their Death Squad to steal our plunder.”

“He still thinks he has a choice,” Alex said to Logan.

His face remained impassive. “Fools are born every day.”

The vampires smirked at him. And that’s when Alex felt the reason for their glee.

“Logan, there are a hundred vampires headed this way, moving fast.” She glanced at the gaping hole where the door used to be. “Maybe we shouldn’t have done it the fun way.”

“I hear them.” He sheathed his sword. “Let’s go. Now.” His words were clipped. “Out the other door.”

They hurried past the four stapled vampires, who were snickering. Alex almost stopped to shut them up, but Logan was right. They had to run. The two of them weren’t strong enough to survive a fight with a hundred vampires. As Alex followed Logan into the back, she could feel the new arrivals streaming through the front door, their magic a pulsing knot of fermented demon and ill intentions. But she was more worried about the many hundreds of vampires she could sense nearby.

“Where are the others?” she said. “They should be right on top of us.”

“No, not on top of us. Below us,” Logan said, pointing down at something that Alex could have sworn was a sewer lid. A sewer lid inside of a house. Now she’d seen everything. Vampires really were the craziest of the supernaturals.

“They’re in the sewers?”

He pulled up on the lid, then tossed the heavy grate easily aside, like it weighed no more than an aluminum tray. “Not exactly.” He jumped through the hole.

The poker-playing pirates’ friends were already in sight, so Alex didn’t hesitate. She jumped down after him, and hit the ground running. Shallow water splashed against her boots with every stride.

“This is the Fleet, an old river that’s been covered by centuries of progress,” he said, turning on the headlamp he’d pulled from his backpack. The assassin’s survival kit sure came with everything. “Today, the River Fleet flows below the city.”

She stared down the huge brick tunnel. “And now the vampires have taken it over as their own. Hundreds of them. But why?”

“I don’t know.” He stole a backward glance. “But those vampires are gaining on us.”

Alex spun around, shooting a wave of fire down the tunnel. The fiery blanket attached itself to the curved sides, forming a barrier between them and the vampires.

“Impressive,” said Logan.

“Thanks.” She brushed her hands together, dusting off the remnants of her spell. “As I said, I’ve been practicing. I call that one the Fire Lattice.”

“Maybe you should practice naming things too.” He smirked at her.

Exactly what I said,
her dragon piped in.

“Oh, shut up,” she told them both. The
Fire Lattice
was a fine name. More importantly, it seemed to be keeping those vampires at bay for now, but that still left the several hundred other vampires in the tunnels. And the water was halfway to her knees now. “Is it my imagination, or is the water level rising?”

“It’s rising,” Logan replied, his pace not even slowing. “It’s a tidal river.” He kept running like the ground was perfectly dry.

Alex pushed harder, trying to match his pace. He might have possessed supernatural speed and strength, but she had supernatural stubbornness on her side. Oddly, it wasn’t helping much at the moment. Maybe she could freeze the river. Running on ice was a lot easier than slushing through water. Well, except if she somehow managed to freeze her feet along with the river. The chances of that were only around fifty percent, so she almost tried it anyway. But a voice in her head reminded her that she was supposed to be practicing less reckless behavior.

That wasn’t me,
her dragon snickered.
Being reckless is fun. Let’s burn some more things.

“Does it ever get flooded in here?” Alex asked Logan.

“Sometimes.”

“And how long does that take?”

“About half an hour.”

Great. “How much further does this tunnel go?”

“About a kilometer.”

She grimaced.

“Ok, about a mile, if you prefer.”

“That’s even further,” she complained.

“Is that a problem?”

“That depends. Would you mind if I froze the river?”

“
That
would depend,” he said. “Are you planning on freezing us along with it?”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on it.”

“But it might happen anyway?”

“Something like that.” She sighed. He knew her too well. “My socks are wet.”

“So are mine. You know what they say: misery loves company.”

“I’d prefer your company while wearing dry socks. Or no socks at all.”

“Will it be just the socks you’re removing?” His brows lifted. “Or other things as well?”

She smirked at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Two vampires poured down from the ceiling, cutting off whatever Logan was going to say. He pivoted around her, drawing his sword as he spun. It slashed in a perfect silver arc, severing the vampires’ heads. They splashed into the water, followed a moment later by the headless bodies. Alex blasted the ceiling with ice, covering the hole. They didn’t even stop running.

“That won’t last long,” she told him.

She could feel the vampires punching the ice, chipping away at the meager covering. But that wasn’t the problem. That came in the form of the hundreds of vampire auras closing in on their position.

“There are more up ahead. And something else.” She’d almost missed it, thanks to the overwhelming stench of vampire pounding against her magic. “Some hybrids. Just up ahead.”

They passed into the next tunnel. The water was lower here—not even to their ankles. Iron cages filled both sides of the passageway. Iron bounced magic like a hall of mirrors, but Alex felt a surge of fairy and mage magic before the migraine hit her. She reversed her magic, protecting her mind, looking with her eyes instead. Bedraggled prisoners stood behind the cages, their blood-crusted arms reaching through the bars. They called out to her and Logan in hoarse, pleading voices.

Alex stopped, staring up at their manic eyes. “This is what the pirates meant by ‘plunder’.”

“The vampires have modified the area. There are more prisoners in adjacent tunnels,” Logan said. “I can hear them. Mages, fairies, hybrids. And humans.” His jaw went rigid. “They’re selling them as food to vampire warlords. I’ve seen this before.”

“They couldn’t even keep their fangs to themselves that long.” Alex peered through the bars of the closest cage. The hybrids inside were freckled with bite marks. “They fed on these people. Numerous times.” She spun to face Logan. “We have to get them out of here.”

“Ok.” He shot a scathing look down the tunnel, presumably at the vampires, then set to work picking the locks on the cages. “The vampires will be here in under a minute.”

She drew her sword and stepped toward the tunnel entrance. “I’ll take care of it.”

A wave of magic preceded the vampire swarm, thick and sharp with the tang of blood and the decay of rotting fruit. Yum. Demonic vampires were the strongest and fastest of the three kinds of vampires. Their magic also tasted the worst. Well, unless you liked 101 Flavors of the Apocalypse.

One-by-one, vampires dripped through the narrow passageway into the tunnel, fangs bared. They moved in silver streaks—and fell in crimson waves. Alex slashed left and right, the pile of vampires at her feet constantly growing. Sweat and blood lathered her skin, drenching her in death.

But there were too many of them. And they were just too damn fast. One got past her. And then another. He backhanded her as he passed. She flew across the tunnel, her back crashing against iron bars. She pulled herself back to her feet, slashing at the endless stream of vampires. If only she could use magic without throwing up.

I can help you with that,
her dragon said.
The iron doesn’t affect me.

In that case, burn them.

Her dragon grinned into her mind, chased by a round of maniacal laughter. A moment later, every vampire in the tunnel exploded. A fiery curtain of magic slid down from the archway, blocking off the rest of the vampire army. Alex stole a glance at Logan. He’d freed half of the prisoners, but he needed more time to free the others. The vampires didn’t look like they were going to give him that time. They were throwing things against the magic barrier.

Can you make that thicker?

Sure, but then I couldn’t hold it as long… Oh.
Her dragon grinned.
I see what you’re thinking. Let’s do it.

Lightning crackled to life on the barrier, thickening and mixing with the fire to form an opaque wall of magic. Alex clenched her fists and held back the wave of nausea as she reached for her magic. Cool and silky, it rolled across her skin. The ground shook. In the distance, water crashed and rumbled. That rumble was getting closer.

“Alex, what are you doing?” Logan asked.

She didn’t dare answer for fear she’d throw up. The iron was bouncing her magic back at her, bombarding her with echoes.

Beyond the wall, a vampire yelped in surprise, swallowed by the river. The other vampires turned to run, but they were too late. A tidal wave rolled over them, pushing them under. Water crashed against the barrier, which spat and sizzled in protest. Thankfully, it held.

Of course it’s holding,
her dragon said, but her voice sounded strained.

Alex pushed against the water, shoving the river back through the tunnels—and all those vampires with it. With the water level back to normal, her dragon dropped the barrier. Alex released her magic. As it snapped back into her, she stumbled forward and vomited into the water.

Yuck.

Alex wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
Just wait until we get you a body.

I don’t think I want one. They sound terribly overrated,
her dragon said, then drifted off to sleep. Maintaining the barrier against that tsunami had clearly taken a lot out of her.

Alex heaved in a few deep breaths, then righted herself. The entourage of freed hybrids stood frozen, their mouths wide open, gaping at her in shock. It took more than a magical tsunami to faze Logan, though.

“Hurry. Up the ladder,” he told them.

They didn’t move. Apparently, gaping at Alex was more interesting than their freedom.

“Those vampires will be back,” Alex told them. “So unless you want to be somebody’s midnight snack, I suggest that you listen to him.”

They blinked at her. Talk about shellshocked. But was it because of the vampires or her flamboyant display of bizarre magic?

“Move!” Logan snapped out the command, and this time they not only moved, they stampeded. They ran and pushed to be the first to the ladder. There was even some kicking.

After a few more choice commands from Logan, they managed to get the hybrids up the ladder and back above ground. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the story. Not even close.

“The vampires are regrouping,” Alex told Logan. “They’re headed right for us.”

“This way,” he said.

He herded the hybrids across the street in an abrupt turn that sent a white SUV screeching to a halt. A symphony of honking vehicles that reached back nearly a block followed. Logan kept going like the cars weren’t even there, leading their dozen dirty and scruffy supernaturals toward a red brick building.

“The League of Fairies Embassy?” Alex asked him. “But it’s outside opening hours.” She squinted at the sign. “All two hours of them per day.” Geez, what were those fairies doing the rest of the day? No, scratch that. She really didn’t want to know.

“There’s always someone at the embassy,” Logan replied, ringing the bell.

They waited two minutes.

“That someone must be napping,” said Alex.

“I’ll just have to ring the other bell.”

“Which other bell?”

He pulled out his lock-picking set. Oh. A few seconds later, all the lights inside and around the building blared on and the alarm screeched to life, which nearly scared the dirt off the poor hybrids. A male fairy with a longsword and some serious bedhead threw the door open. His agitation elevated to full-on pissed off when he saw who had landed on his doorstep.

“You’re not very competent criminals, just waiting here for me to find you,” he told them.

“These people were kidnapped by vampires and held against their will in the underground tunnels,” Logan said. “As an officer of the League of Fairies, it is your duty to offer them shelter.”

The fairy smoothed down his golden tunic and yawned. “I liked you better when I thought you were criminals.”

“There are vampires headed this way,” Logan said, looking at Alex.

“A good two hundred of them,” she added. “If you don’t want to be dragged down into the sewers and turned into a meal-on-legs, I suggest you let these people inside and call for reinforcements.”

“Oh, I
definitely
liked you better as criminals,” the fairy declared. “All right then. Queue up. No pushing.” As the hybrids filed inside, he turned to Alex and Logan. “What are you going to do?”

“Try to lead the vampires away from here,” replied Alex.

“And what makes you think they’ll follow you rather than their escaped prisoners?”

“Because vampires have nasty tempers. And I just flooded their underground hideout, flushing them right out onto the streets.”

“That was rather reckless of you.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that’s something I should work on.” She looked at Logan. “Ready to lead the vampires on a high-speed chase through the city?”

He extended his arm. “Ladies first.”

They took off running at a full-out sprint, leaving the embassy far behind. Alex could feel the vampires change direction to follow. They were ignoring the hybrids. So far, everything was going exactly to plan. Too bad the plan started and ended with ‘lead vampires away from the hybrids’. Alex didn’t have any idea what to do once the vampires caught up with them. She didn’t have enough magic left in her to light a match.