Ink Magic (Ink Sorceress Chronicles) (3 page)

Once he finished going Leaping Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the werewolves’ asses, he cleaned off his blade. Thick, jet-black hair hung down to the shoulder. He blew the heavy fringe from his eyes revealing a starting pair of rich, baby blues. The appearance of his tight leather waistcoat added to the lack of oxygen reaching my brain. His entire outfit was made of leather, from the boots, to the bands on his wrists. The boots were scuffed and clunky meaning he wouldn’t look out of place on a Harley.

My bad boy radar went off and my brain promptly ignored the warning.

“
Thanks,” I said. “I’m Lucy.”

“
I’m Daniel Mills. Lucky for you I was near by.”

Very lucky. I grinned mutely at him.

“
You up for hunting vampires?” he said.

He was keen.

“
Who, me?” Nearly being eaten by a pack of wolves seemed like enough for one night.

“
Yes, you.”

I’d had better first dates, but, oh well.

“
What’s going on with the vampires?”

“
Didn’t your guardian tell you about what’s happening at the vampire bar?”

My tattoo stung again, shooting-pain swept up my arm.

“
My guardian?”

“
Yes, you are an Ink Mage aren’t you?” He took a few steps forward then stopped to look me in the eye. “Did you get hit on the head or something?”

That’s when I noticed the tattoo on his neck. It was moving.

“
Ohmygod!”

I reached for his tattoo, placing my fingers over it. It traversed to the top of his chin and I followed it with my fingers until I realized I was rubbing my hand all over the face of a boy I hardly knew.

My hand was actually on his face, cupping it like a lover’s. Mortifying.

“
Are you quite finished?”

Rich blue eyes met mine. I quickly jerked my hand away.

“
Sorry. You have a magical tattoo like mine.”

“
Of course,” he said. “Surely your guardian told you there were others like you?”

“
You keep going on about guardians but I don’t know what they are.”

The truth appeared to dawn on him then. “You don’t have a guardian? No wonder you’re so . . . bad at this.”

Gee, thanks. “What’s a guardian?”

“
They’re older Ink Mages who help younger ones learn how to control their magic. I don’t really have time to fill you in right now. I’m late for a date with some fanged psychopaths. Meet me after school in the gym tomorrow, and you can meet my guardian.”

I looked at my watch. “Sure, okay. It’s kind of past my curfew anyway.”

He stopped walking and laughed. “Ink Mages don’t have curfews.” He leapt into the sky again as if on an invisible string and ran across a rooftop above.

I flew to join him and nearly ran head on into a concrete wall. At the last minute I righted myself, flying straight up and taking out a few tiles of a roof on the way.

Daniel gave me an appalled look.

“
What?” I said.

“
That’s willful damage. My guardian would have my hide for that.”

“
Hey, I’m a learner driver.”

He grinned making his beautiful cheekbones stand out. And I flew straight into a chimney.

He grinned wryly. “I think we better get you an L plate.”

I gave him a sarcastic smile.

“
Didn’t you say you had to get home?”

“
Yeah, I just thought I’d try out this flying thing.”

I flew sideways to avoid hitting a steep roof and shot off too far, nearly smacking into an electricity pole.

“
You might want to stick to your feet for a while.” His teeth shone out in the dark.

He performed a triple jump that would make an Olympic Diver look like a hippo, and disappeared across the rooftops.

I floated back to ground as daintily as I could. In other words, I went down too quickly and landed in a heap. I looked up at the rooftops and saw nothing, though I swear I heard laughter.

My footsteps echoed across the empty gymnasium floor. Without the usual hubbub of activity from noisy teens the place seemed eerily quiet. I’d waited all day anticipating this moment. I was going to find out exactly what it meant to be an Ink Mage. I’d also learn what it was like not to be alone. There were others like me, with tattoos that moved and strange powers. Then there was Daniel. Somehow seeing him again excited me most of all. I’d searched for him nervously all day, hoping to catch a glimpse of him in the corridors. I’d seen him around lots before, he was hard not to see with his dark hair and brooding good looks. But not today, not when I wanted to see him. I began to worry that he wasn’t at even at school.

“
Hello?” The sound of my voice bouncing off the walls did nothing to calm my nerves.

I got the strange feeling of not being alone even though the place was deserted, and as I walked to the center of the room the feeling grew. I hadn’t run into Leeza or any of the other werewolves all day and it occurred to me that the abandoned gym might be the perfect place for an ambush. There were plenty of places to hide; rooms full of gym equipment, changing areas and toilets.

A loud thump sounded behind me, like something heavy dropping, and I turned sharply to find . . . nothing.

I scanned the immediate area. There was nowhere they could have gone, unless they managed to move faster than human speed, but if they were in wolf form then my tattoo would let me know all about it.

Sudden movement to the right caught my attention. The curtain, which had been pulled shut, now lay open. Someone had been hiding behind it, but now they were nowhere to be seen.

A sharp noise like a sword being unsheathed sounded directly behind me and I instinctively ducked out of the way, before turning around in time to see a blurred figure leaping into the air. They shot straight up landing softly on the rafters above.

“
Daniel, is that you?” I really wasn’t in the mood for a display of his acrobatics right now.

The figure sprinted across the rafters, leaping several feet down to the balcony before dropping back to the floor. They somersaulted toward me, and it was only when they came within a few feet that I noticed it wasn’t Daniel. It was a woman.

Like Daniel she wore all leather but hers was tan colored, enabling her to blend in with the surroundings. She leapt at my face, unsheathing the sword at the same time. I didn’t have time to duck out of the way; the sword flew at me too quickly.

I closed my eyes waiting for the deathblow. I waited. And waited. Eventually opening my eyes to find the blade stopped inches from my face.

“
Daniel told me you can’t control your powers,” she said.

She brought the sword right up against my neck so that if I took a deep breath I’d end up garroted. Not exactly how I’d planned my school day to end.

The blade pressed further, and I decided that was her way of telling me to answer. “Yes,” I managed.

She stared at me, lengthening the moment. Her dark eyes cold and intelligent. At first I’d put her age somewhere in her late fifties, but on closer inspection adjusted that estimate. Her straight, white hair aged her, but the smooth skin, with only the hint of frown lines around her forehead, put her somewhere in her mid to late thirties.

“
You’re lucky I have no intention of killing you, then.”

I wasn’t entirely sure I believed her. The blade pressing further into my neck didn’t exactly reassure me.

“
That’s good to know,” I replied, feeling the blade press further. I hoped she had a steady hand. If she so much as sneezed I’d end up skewered.

“
I won’t kill you, but I strongly suggest you defend yourself.” Her dark eyes shone dangerously. “I can’t promise you’ll come out of this in one piece if you don’t.”

She removed the sword from my neck only to slice it across my stomach.

“
Careful,” I said, managing to step back in time. “My mom made that.”

The Ninja didn’t seem to share my concerns about fashion because she swiped at me with the sword again and this time she managed to slice a piece of material from the front of my skirt. She repeated the process while I clumsily stepped out of the way until what was originally a full-length skirt quickly became a mini.

While I was annoyed, I had to hand it to her. Her sword skills were phenomenal.

“
Hey, I get it. You’ve made your point. You’re pretty handy with the sword.”

“
Pretty handy?” I heard no sign of anger in her voice, and while her face remained impassive, the grip on the sword tightened. “You think my swordsmanship is pretty handy?”

“
Yeah, you’re not bad,” I said, as if I came across people who could leap a hundred feet in the air all the time.

“
My magic allows me to slice through reinforced steel. The speed of my strike measures two hundred kilometers per hour. The force of my blow cannot be measured.”

“
Like I said, not bad.” I inspected my fingernails.

I know. Trying to rile someone who could basically a Ninja version of the Terminator wasn’t wise.

“
Two hundred kilometers an hour.” Now I heard the anger in her voice.

She swept the sword down toward my feet and I jumped out of the way, but before I landed she slammed the flat of the weapon into my stomach. It wasn’t the sharp end of the blade but I got to experience the two hundred kilometers she mentioned first hand. The force threw me half way across the room.

It hurt to breathe. Taking a single breath made the pain in my chest unbearable, forcing me to take short, shallow gulps. Winded, and with possible broken ribs, I clutched my stomach. Before I struggled to my feet, she did one massive leap before landing behind me. Her sword sliced through my shirt, removing both sleeves and she cut right down my back, breaking my cardigan in half. She then proceeded to slice it into even smaller pieces.

Anger rose inside me. My mother struggled to clothe me, working the graveyard shift at the local all-night diner to keep me fed. She had saved for weeks to buy the wool to knit me the angora cardigan the Ninja just reduced to rags.

My tattoo burned and fangs erupted from my mouth. Yes, for the first time ever I’d managed to call up my powers. All it took was uncontrollable anger.

I grinned at her, hoping to strike fear into her sword-flashing heart. She might be a dab hand with sharp, pointy objects, but I could suck her blood.

“
It’s about time.” She swung her sword back and forth in front of me. “Now we can have some fun.”

Her sword swept to my jugular and even in vampire form I barely managed to avoid being garroted. If this were play I’d hate to see serious.

She jabbed at me, an effortless, fluid motion that took me by surprise. The heat of the blade entering my flesh surprised me. Though the wound seemed shallow, it told me she was willing to spill blood.

“
Come on, why don’t you see if you can catch me, little vampire?” She swept up into the air at incredible speed, and her back blast threw me to the ground.

I put on my own burst of speed, humiliation making me careless and I blasted to the roof, belatedly realizing I was going to hit, and possibly go right through it.

She came to meet me and we collided with massive force. It should have broken every bone in our bodies. Instead we spun through the air. I held onto her tightly, preventing her from moving her sword. She struggled in my arms, and then head butted me full-force. I let her go, falling to the ground, and she landed right on top on me. She sat on my belly holding her sword above my throat.

“
Your move,” she said.

My face reddened. Stifled laughter filled the air. I didn’t see anyone else arrive but there were now a dozen people standing around. Their faces filled with mirth. And Daniel, his face impassive, but I thought I detected a hint of anger in the stiffness of his stance.

“
Who are you?” I asked.

“
I’m Margot Peterson. Daniel’s Guardian.” She didn’t wait for me to introduce myself. “You need practice. I’ve never come across an Ink Mage who has so little control over her abilities, even taking into account that you haven’t had anyone to guide you. You would be more of a liability to the group than anything.”

Who said I wanted to join their stupid group?

The sword pressed into my neck. If I moved an inch I’d be seriously injured, or even killed. For some reason my vampire powers had receded and I could do nothing to call them up again.

“
All you need to do is change back into a vampire,” she suggested, as if I hadn’t thought of it. She shook her head. “I didn’t think so. You were wrong about her, Daniel. She has no more power than a new-born kitten.”

Daniel flushed red and people elbowed each other, sniggering. I saw no reason to bring him into this. He only brought me here to find answers, not to prove myself. I didn’t see why she wanted to humiliate him. Anger flowed through me.

My tattoo burned, shooting across my chest and down my arm. Before I knew what I was doing, I grasped her sword between my fingers. The image of her sword bending flashed through my mind and in that instant my tattoo flashed blue. The sword went soft beneath my hand, reaching the consistency of clay. I bent the end around until the point touched the handle.