Evil Spark (11 page)

I allowed dark magic to flow from my hand into the masks, watched as the flesh crackled and hissed as it sparked silver and black while my power increased, tattoos pulsing in waves as magic gained strength.

Then it was over, the power diffused. I walked up the bank of grass carrying three cheap plastic masks you could buy in a handful of places in the city.

I flung them down and the three of us watched as they melted and dissolved, leaving nothing but a stain on the screaming grass that yellowed before our eyes as the sun beat down harder.

My energy wilted like a vase full of flowers without water, as the aftereffects of the magic came calling, asking to be paid in sickness and misery, punishing me for my intrusion into the Empty and taking what wasn't mine by birthright.

"Well," I said, once the ache and hurt had passed and I was left just a little drained, "guess we won't be getting much out of them now."

"Did they tell you anything?" asked Kate.

"Only that there was some serious magic being used, which we all knew anyway." I collapsed beside them and Intus popped back into existence. "You know who could help?" she said. "The—"

We all cried, "NO!" Intus just shrugged.

"Oi, Spark, I heard you been calling us names. You gonna apologize or wot?" Drugi Doles strutted out of the hole in the gym wall with two other goblins. I recognized him easily. Nobody else has quite such a swagger as this one.

"Oh, great, that's all I need."

Drugi Doles Acts Tough

"What does he want?" Dancer pursed his lips as he stood, joining Kate and I.

Intus appeared on my shoulder and said, "Hey, Drugi Doles, do you know you've got a leotard on? It's very bad for males to wear tight clothes around their testicles you know. Um, you do have them, don't you? I can't see any sign."

Drugi Doles peered down at his crotch, looking as if surprised to discover what he was wearing. Weird. Then he scowled at Intus, who was enjoying herself immensely.

"It lowers sperm production if they don't get aired. Um, do you have sperm, or do you just think of the ugliest possible thing you can imagine and then, poof, you have a baby?" Intus winked at me. She likes goblins about as much as anyone else. I don't even think that goblins like goblins.

"Ha, good one," I whispered.

Drugi Doles sneered at Intus in that special way only goblins have mastered, before putting a hand to his very tight, and very revealing... Um, I don't know what you call it. I guess it is a leotard of sorts. A tight-fitting thing that is an all-in-one with shorts and a vest. Stretchy, and showing off his lean and wiry frame, all green bunches of muscle from working out in the gym too long.

Goblins are, when you get right down to it, probably the worst of the true Hidden, at least when it comes to races that come to our world. Every one I have ever met has been rude and obnoxious and will pick a fight over absolutely anything. They will never back down unless they get a good hiding, often not even then.

I was not in the mood for Drugi Doles and his sneering sidekicks.

"Just leave us alone. In case you haven't noticed we've got things to do. Shouldn't you be off helping find out what happened to Rikka?"

"Don't you tell me wot to do, you bleached blight on the earth. You look like a goddamn toilet brush. Stoopid." Drugi Doles waved his arms about, then inspected a bicep like it was some kind of revelation. He sure acts odd at times.

"Oh, you mean like the one you use to brush your teeth," I said, knowing I could have done better, but not really bothered—why waste my best lines on a sickly, pompous goblin?

"You bin sayin' it was us wot took Rikka, now you gotta pay," he said, bunching fists and snorting out something gross from his massive, wart-covered nose. It bent like rubber as he scratched it while it wobbled back and forth. I really, and I mean really, wanted to say boing. "Everyone finks it woz us goblins wot took Rikka, and it weren't us. You bin spreadin' rumors, Spark, now it's time for sum punishment."

"Give me a break! I said no such thing. The others said it was goblins when we got here, not the other way round. And I just found the masks. Damn ugly things they were too. You want an excuse, to feel better about yourself as everyone's giving you a hard time. Well, sorry to burst your bloated belly bubble, but we didn't even see who took Mage Rikka. We were told it was goblins, but I don't even think it was."

"Liar! You've always had it in for us poor goblins. You reckon it woz us, and now everyone hates us."

"They already hated you, but that's because you are rude and obnoxious."

"Right, that's it. Get 'em, lads." The other two goblins stepped forward and all three of them marched up the rise toward us with their typical bowlegged gait.

Goblins are so ugly, with little, make that nothing, in the way of redeeming features. Long limbs, pot bellies, oversized heads and skin that looks, and acts, like blistered plastic. They are a weird green color that reminds you of vomit after you drank all that foul green liquor when you were a kid with the resulting stomach-emptying-nightmare that ensued.

Even that would be fine if they were nice, but they aren't. They are very much on the inside how they appear on the outside. Ugly.

"Drugi Doles, I am warning you right now. I am in no mood for this. You dare to act like you would assault a woman? Have you no respect? What is wrong with you?"

"If she's wiv you then she deserves wot she gets. We hate vamps anyway, don't we lads?" The others murmured their agreement.

"I'm not kidding Drugi Doles, back off. Grandma's missing, now Rikka. I'm running round trying to save all our asses and you want to pick a fight over something I never said."

"Well, your 'Master' ain't 'ere now, is he? So we can do wot we wants, and we wants to give you a taste of goblin fist. I've dreamed of this for so long, Spark, now nobody's gonna stop us."

Like I said, I wasn't in the mood, and before he'd even finished talking I was snapped back into my Black Spark zone, the magic still present from collecting the masks. I let it take me, that familiar dread and excitement, my drug of choice washing away everyday concerns. The addict's cost for the magic high.

Skin erupted into a haze of magic and heat as my anger at the threat in front of Kate erupted into a thick soup of dark magic. The borrowed energy flickered like a vampire in motion as it darted from my cupped hands and crashed into all three of them carrying my rage.

I breathed deep as they smacked into the grass then clambered agilely to their feet, angry and blackened. They are mean, green, and great fighting machines. Hard as hell.

Their magic is about defense though, meaning they are pretty much unbeatable at close-quarter fighting, and survive by their skills, not their dark arts. They are hands-on fighters, up close and mean. Nasty cheaters, no match for the magic of an angry enforcer. Especially when the angry enforcer is me, and I have some distance.

"Just back off, Drugi Doles. I told you, I haven't said a word about you."

"Don't believe you. Gonna pay for this, Spark." Drugi Doles brushed down his leotard, which was odd, as normally he wouldn't care. Was he trying to impress us or something?

They came at us again, and before Dancer could weave his way into their minds and try to scare them—which wouldn't work—I fixed my focus on two lines that ran in parallel down my arms, let the ink swell until the patterns became as fat as a finger, then pushed hard to picture my goal in my mind.

I let loose with a grunt and then a spasm, leaving me feeling emptier than a box of cakes two minutes after Rikka enters a room. The spell of weight slammed into their bodies with all the force of a tide of trolls in a hurry to get under a bridge before small children skipped across.

Again they were down, again they got up. The pressure I punished them with was immense but not enough to stop them. They ran at us. I'd had enough.

No more mister nice guy.

"Stop!" I shouted. "Last warning, Drugi Doles. Another step and I will suck your magic right out of you and leave you as husks of goblins. Old as your King but without the looks."

It gave them all pause, and the others looked to Drugi Doles in concern. But he was lost to anger and the joy of the fight. I could see the gleam in his eye, the knowledge he was getting closer to us and soon could fight as he intended. By cheating, and ripping, and biting, and clawing, and using his immense strength to beat us. So he wished.

He charged. I made good on my promise. Focusing on my diaphragm, I sucked in with all the magic I could draw from the Empty. With my infusion of dark and deadly magic I watched as he slowed, leaving his friends behind to stare in terror. He moved slower and slower, body visibly shrinking as I sucked away what made him what he was—a magical creature. A pure Hidden made of true magic and I took it and let it flow through me back to the Empty.

He kept coming, faltering but fighting, weaker and weaker, muscles atrophying, bald and shrinking as skin stretched tight around eyes that threatened to pop from his head like a shaken bottle of celebratory champagne.

Finally, much as he fought it, he could move no more. His legs were like sticks, all muscle mass gone from his wiry frame, leaving nothing but a green skin-covered skeleton, wizened and impossibly old. Goblins live incredibly long lives, and it now showed.

I blacked out for a moment and slumped to the grass, head between my legs, feeling like a troll had stomped all over my body then used me as a cricket bat to defend against balls of spiked terror that fought in my throat and screamed through my mind for release.

Knowing there was no way to stop it, I accepted my fate and spewed black smoke from screaming lungs then spat onto the now dead grass.

"You should eat more vegetables," said Intus helpfully, appearing on the back of my hand. "And drink water, that looks nasty."

"Um, yeah, thanks, Intus." She smiled in pleasure at being so helpful.

Kate was by my side, crouching and staring at me with concern. "You okay? You should take it easy, Faz, we could have handled them."

"Kate, I know you mean well, but you couldn't. They would pull you limb from limb just for fun. Dancer may be able to protect himself but not both of you. Not me too. No offense." I said, turning to Dancer.

"None taken." Dancer knew his limits, and knew that a fight with three goblins would never be something he could win and still think about protecting others.

"Come on, I need a drink of water." They helped me to my feet, and we walked past the sucked-dry body of Drugi Doles as he wobbled on arthritic and bowed legs. He scowled at me. "You'll be all right, in about a hundred years," I said, knowing it was a lie. He wouldn't die, but it would take a while to recover. Just not long enough. You can't take a true Hidden's magic away, not entirely. He'd be his usual obnoxious yet powerful self soon enough. His "friends" were nowhere to be seen.

*

We sat in the canteen and I gulped water gratefully, coughing and spluttering until I got myself under control. I got a few looks from others, but they forgot about me even while they were staring at us.

"What's with the goblins? Why are they so mean?" asked Kate.

Dancer filled her in while I tried to recover and get my mind working again.

"Kate, you are new to our world and there is a lot to learn," lectured Dancer, keen to have a platform to be the center of attention. "Goblins may be entirely untrustworthy, pretty much evil and rude at nearly all times, but they are amazing chefs, and fantastic with machinery. So, Rikka employs a number of them."

"Surely lots of people, even Regulars, would be a better choice?" she asked, not understanding the true skill of the green annoyances.

"You don't get it, Kate. They repair anything and everything, and they are seen as cranky older gentleman to Regulars. Always playing with things and muttering about someone else having broken whatever it is they are fixing. Half the time it's them, as they have a short attention span and often leave jobs half finished. They are very clever though, just stupid at the same time. Love fighting, as we just saw."

"Mostly just annoying," I added helpfully.

Dancer scowled at my interruption. "But I think Rikka has always kept them in his employ because of the culinary arts. They can cook like nobody's business. Their food is divine. It makes me dislike them even more though. Too much moaning along with your supper for my liking. They would also sell their own offspring if it meant gold in their pocket, or leotard in some cases."

"Um, wow, okay, that's pretty intense." It was clear Kate was realizing how much she had to learn. She'd met many Hidden since her infection, but there was a lot she didn't know, and a lot of species she was yet to meet, let alone understand. Her world is one of vampires, and it's only through knowing me and Grandma that she meets so many other creatures.

Grandma. I had to find Grandma. And what the hell was going on with Rikka?

"You have to be careful, Kate. You are a vampire, not a magician. You can move fast, sure, and glamor people, but it won't work on creatures like goblins. They aren't wired that way. Some species, yes, you can glamor, but for a lot they will just think you have squinty eyes, not do your bidding." At that moment I feared for Kate. Was she going to survive in this world? A lot of vampires don't. They lose their minds because of what they become, but a lot lose their life because they are involved in the Hidden and think they are invincible. They find out the hard way that nothing could be further from the truth.

It's like some new to our world assume all Hidden can blast the magic like I do, but just because you are magic doesn't mean you can use magic. Goblins are what they are, tough in a fist fight, but they can't stand up to a wizard. It made Drugi Doles' actions even more peculiar.

Why did he bother? Normally he would wait and jump you so you had to use fists, but the way he acted it was almost like he wanted a taste of Black Spark's finest.

Ugh, goblins!