Dread Nemesis of Mine (6 page)

"The energy!" I swirled a little cloud with a
finger until it resembled a miniature tornado. "This is freaking
awesome."

"Justin, you can't actually
see
the
magic around us, although you can feel it."

"Are you sure?" I looked at her through my
incubus senses, watching her aura cloud gray with doubt. I
shrugged. "Maybe it has something to do with the way I'm sensing
the magic."

"And how is that exactly?"

I explained it to her.

"You never described it like that before,"
Elyssa said, frowning ever so slightly after I finished. "I mean, I
guess we've never sat down and talked about it."

"Intriguing," Bella said, tapping her chin.
"Arcanes have a sixth sense for magical energy. It is possible your
incubus sixth sense is entwined with your arcane sense, and it is
this which grants you the ability to see the magical energy, or at
least a representation of it."

I felt elated. Magic suddenly went from
boring and pointless to something I could actually do and see. I
flicked my senses on and off, looking at the magical energy. "Maybe
I have a sixth and seventh sense. I mean, why does everyone always
call it a sixth sense anyway?"

Bella waved my question away with a flick of
her hand. "This is fascinating, Justin, it truly is. But whatever
it is will have to wait further study. First, you need to learn to
store the energy in your well. Otherwise, it really does you no
good."

"Can't I channel it straight out of the air?
Does it really need to go into storage first?"

"You need to concentrate the energy inside so
you can focus and bend it to your will. You can't do that without
filling your well. It's the same as making a circle. The more
concentrated the energy, the more powerful your spells will be.
This is why Shelton and I had you practice blowing out candles and
lighting them first. Such a feat is possible even without storing
any energy, though we had hoped you might stumble your way into it
as many new practitioners do, without us explicitly teaching
it."

I looked at her. "You mean most newbs can
store energy instinctually?"

She nodded. "Just like your incubus senses
triggered without you controlling them. I believe your primary
instincts as an incubus have overshadowed your magical abilities.
It's really no surprise. In fact, I would surmise from how similar
you are in appearance to your father that you inherited more from
his side of the family than from the Arcanes on your mother's
side."

"I agree," Elyssa said. "He has his mom's
nose, judging from the pictures I've seen of her, but everything
else looks a lot like his dad."

I touched my nose, trying to remember the
shape of my mom's before she abandoned me and Dad to supposedly
rescue Ivy from the clutches of her evil parents. "Okay, so how do
I store the magic?"

Bella leaned back and balanced her chin on a
hand, eyes distant with thought. After a moment, she pursed her
lips and said, "How do you fill yourself with emotional
energy?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. My tendril sucks it in
automatically, like I'm drinking with a straw."

"Perhaps you could do the same with the
magical energy?"

"Sure, why not?" I closed my eyes and reached
into the place inside where I caged the demon and loosed my senses.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the wondrous universe of magical
energy again. Extending a tendril, I made contact with a puff of
magic. The tingling sensation made me feel giddy as it curled
around my probe and melted into it. Other particles of magic
drifted toward the curling strand of my essence, drawn to it like a
magnet. Soon, the air around it was hazy with energy.

"I'm doing it," I said with a jubilant shout
and pumping a fist in the air. "Booyah!"

Bella squeezed my hand. "Great job,
Justin."

I glanced at her and saw a similar haze
around her aura. "Are you drawing in magic, too?" I asked.

She tilted her head. "How did you know?"

"I can see it melting into you."

"Within a minute or so, you should feel full,
as though you've just eaten." She patted her stomach as if to
illustrate her point.

"If it's anything like when I feed on
emotions, I don't feel full so much as I just don't feel ravenous
anymore." I really wasn't feeling full at all from drawing in the
magic except the exhilarating rush of energy as it flooded along my
senses.

"It shouldn't take long," Bella assured me.
"Most new practitioners have a much smaller well which expands with
use. You have to stretch it little by little or you might feel
sick."

I continued to draw in magic, watching as it
flowed from the tiny veins in the floor, up to my tendril, and into
me. After another minute, I gave Bella an unsure look. "I don't
think I'm doing it right."

She touched my chest and spoke a word,
closing her eyes in concentration. "I sense energy in you, but I'm
not very good at determining how much magic you've drawn in.
Someone versed in arcane healing arts, like Meghan Andretti, could
probably tell you more." She opened her eyes and smiled. "In any
case, you probably have enough energy to work with."

I closed my eyes and walled up the demon part
of me. I wondered sometimes if it was really a part of me, or if I
had an alien presence living within. It brought a whole new meaning
to the term "inner demons".

"By the way, you need to practice absorbing
magic without closing your eyes first."

"But I have to close my eyes so I can
concentrate."

Bella offered an apologetic smile. "I don't
expect you to get it down pat today, but if you're in a situation
requiring fast thinking and magic, you won't be able to close your
eyes and concentrate."

My heart sank a little. "Dang. I thought I'd
really improved."

She squeezed my hand. "You're doing great,
Justin. You just learn differently from anyone else I've ever
taught."

"He's definitely different," Elyssa said with
a wink.

I stuck out my tongue at her. "Ha, ha."

"I'm going to make some tea and then we'll
resume lessons," Bella said, and left the room.

Something prodded my leg from within the
front pocket of my jeans. I leapt to my feet and felt inside,
finding my new phone. "What the hell?"

"What?" Elyssa said.

"My phone poked me in the leg."

"Oh, you must have it set to poke instead of
vibrate."

I glanced at the caller ID, but it was
blocked. "Hello?"

"Justin, it's Felicia."

Adam Nosti's little sister, who just so
happened to also be a vampire. I sucked in a breath. "Are you okay?
Are you still spying on Maximus?"

Static crackled in the receiver, obscuring
some of her words. "…don't have time. Maximus has something new for
recruiting." More white noise obliterated whatever she said
next.

"I can't hear you," I shouted into the
microphone. "Reception is really bad." I turned on the speaker so
Elyssa could listen in.

Felicia's voice cut in for a second then back
out, leaving us in silence. I thought I'd lost her, when suddenly,
she was back. "I don't know if you can hear this, Justin, so I'll
repeat it again. Maximus has some kind of blood potion. I don't
know where he got it, but it turns people into vampires."

Elyssa and I stared at each other, stunned by
Felicia's words.

"Are you sure?" I asked, praying the signal
didn't break up again.

"Oh, thank god you're still there." She
paused, her breathing fast and panicked. "I don't have long," she
hissed. "I'm positive about it. He showed it to one of his top
guys. I've been sleeping with him to get information."

I felt my face blanch at the thought of her
casual use of sex as a tool. "Felicia, you need to get out of there
and go back to your brother."

"Is—is Adam doing okay?" she said, sounding
like a little girl. "Will you tell him I love him and miss
him?"

"He's very proud of you, Felicia, but you're
putting yourself in danger."

"I know. But you, of all people, know I owe
some good karma back to the universe."

"Where's Maximus now?" Elyssa said.

"Down here," Felicia said, as if that should
be clear to us.

"No, I mean what city?"

"Bogota. He's been using the arch at La
Casona to travel, to where, I don't know. Ever since I came back,
he hasn't given me a second glance. He has new girlfriends."

"Does he have my sister, Ivy?" I asked,
almost face-palming for not having asked that immediately.

"Your sister?" She paused. "I have no idea.
So many people come in and out of here all the time, it's
impossible to keep up." A noise sounded, like someone knocking on a
door. "Crap," she hissed. "Just a minute, hot stuff," she said in a
loud voice. "I'm in the bathroom."

"Who is that?" I asked.

"Alvin, the guy I'm sleeping with," she said
in a whisper. "Tell the Templars they need to stop Maximus. I don't
know who's making the potion, but it doesn't take much to turn a
nom into a vampire. Right now, his quantities are limited, but if
he figures out how to mass produce it, there won't be anything left
in Bogota except a bunch of high school and college-aged vampires
who live to serve Maximus. An army."

"We'll stop him," Elyssa said, giving me a
look.

"Alvin said it doesn't always work.
Sometimes, it turns them into vamplings."

I shuddered. "Oh, crap." Vamplings were part
zombie and part vampire, and carried a highly contagious magical
virus. One bite could turn a person into a member of the walking
dead. I'd seen it happen before, and it wasn't pretty.

"Tell Adam I love him," Felicia said. I'll
try to find out about your sister too. Bye, Justin." The connection
went dead.

Elyssa pulled out her phone, tapped in a
number, and put it to her ear. After a few seconds, she made a face
and hung up.

"Who are you calling?"

"Michael. He needs to know about this."

"What about your father?"

Her nose wrinkled. "I'd prefer Michael gave
him the news."

"Why? You think your dad won't listen to
you?"

Elyssa shrugged. "After mind-wiping me and
nearly exiling me to Europe, I don't think I'm the one he'll listen
to. And with Jack dead—" She trailed off as a lone tear trickled
down her cheek.

I wiped it away with my thumb and caressed
her cheek. "You're the best of them," I said. "Talk to him. He'll
believe you."

She looked at me, her eyes wet and rimmed
with red. "Maybe so, but, ever since Nightliss restored my
memories, I've felt so angry at him. Angry and hurt and
worthless."

"You're not worthless, Elyssa." I gripped her
shoulders and narrowed my eyes. "How could you say that? I mean,
you're always so strong-willed about everything. Like the time you
nearly took off my head."

A small smile lit her face. "When I found out
you were spawn?"

I nodded. "I thought I was a goner."

"I was pissed. Hurt."

"Kind of like now?"

She shook her head. "Now, it's different."
She clenched her hands tight and wiped away another tear with the
back of her hand. "Anyway, you're right. I'll tell Father. Looks
like we have more than one reason to finish Maximus now."

Shelton and Bella walked around the corner,
steaming cups of tea in their hands. Bella's eyes looked bright and
happy as she spoke to him. Shelton held his arcphone in one hand,
studying it, nodding absentmindedly while Bella chattered away.

"Looks like the recording was made this
morning around three a.m." He flicked his fingers across the phone
and the screen expanded until it was about a foot across. "I also
found the location information."

Hope surged in my chest. "You know where they
were keeping her?"

"Hold on, hotshot." Shelton held out a hand.
"Let me finish my train of thought before you bust in."

"Sorry."

"The location information was partially
corrupted." He pointed to a pulsing blue dot in the center of a
large circle on a map. The circle took in most of Atlanta,
extending out to the northern suburbs. "The bad news is we don't
know the exact location where this recording was made. The good
news is she was here in Atlanta."

I clenched a hand into a fist. "And the worst
news is, she's in Bogota now."

Shelton and Bella exchanged confused
looks.

"Bogota?" Bella said. "How do you know?"

I filled them in on Felicia's phone call and
Maximus's blood potion. "Looks like I'm headed south."

Bella took my hand. "Justin, you still have a
great deal to learn. Give me and Harry a few days to teach
you."

I shook my head. "Look, I know it's
important, but Maximus has my sister. The devil knows what he plans
to do with her. For all I know, it's already too late."

Elyssa took my other hand. "I have to agree
with Justin. Once my father hears this, he'll probably mobilize the
Templars and move out fast. "

"That'll take at least a day," Shelton said.
"Until then, your ass is mine."

"At least let us teach you a couple of
defensive spells," Bella said.

"And let me program some useful stuff into
your new phone." Shelton minimized his arcphone and jammed it into
a pocket. "No sense rushing off to get killed."

"They're right," Elyssa said. She pulled me
away from the others until we were alone. "I'll go to Father in
person. Make him see how important it is we mobilize quickly. The
minute I know something, I'll let you know."

I really didn't want her to go, but the
orderly little nerd with angel wings on my right shoulder told me
it was for the best if I stuck around and learned a thing or two.
The horned demon on my other shoulder agreed since it didn't want
to die any more than I did. Pressing Elyssa to the wall with my
body, I kissed her hard.