Dangerous, Diabolical

“He was trapped under a Fae-net. He’s probably just drained.” he did look rough. “They were torturing him for a good couple of weeks.” Now we were in daylight, I could see just how badly the state of him was. One of his ears was nicked, and a leg was broken. Multiple piercings covered his torso. Saying he’d need a month of healing to the Fae had been a bit presumptuous. I should have gone for two.

“This is bad, we need to get some magic into him to begin healing the wounds.” From what Leofstan had shown me in my garden, now we were back on earth he could be filling his magic reserves back up in no time.

Besides, there were other, more important things to consider, such as the last of the golden leaves that had fallen from the trees. A crisp frost was heavy in the air, and Grahame was not in the same outfit he’d worn only an hour ago.

“How long was I gone?” It better not have been more than a day.

“Just over a week,” Grahame stated, matter-of-fact.

I couldn’t hide the grimace that juddered into my face “Mm-hm.” I answered, cursing inwardly. My job was doomed.

“Well, don’t just stand there.” He snapped. “Give him your jumper.”

“What,” I stated, not quite sure I’d heard him correctly.

“Well I can’t give him mine, it’s midday.” He pointed to the sun peaking out from behind a cloud.

“But I’m wearing it,” I complained.

“And Stan is injured, naked and potentially going to be hypothermic unless we warm him up.”

I pointed at the nearest tree, and with gentle coercion pushed my magic at it. It erupted into flames, the thinner branches falling to the ground in a shower and nearby birds fleeing to the skies. The resulting orange glow illuminated the area. Grahame stumbled back, throwing an arm over his face.

For a moment, I stared at my finger. Just this morning I’d struggled to tap into any kind of magic reserves, and now it seemed like I was overflowing. As I’d never had such low reserves before to notice any changes after venturing into the Fae lands.

“I was aiming for a branch,” I muttered to the Vampire when I noticed the look he was searing in my direction. At least it was warm. A second tree caught the blaze. Bugger.

Leofstan groaned from the ground but didn’t wake.

Grahame glanced towards him. “He’s not healing, we need to transport him to the SPCC.”

“We?” Aghast my eyebrows shot up.

“Yes. I am not letting you out of my sight.” He slowly lifted Leofstan over his shoulder as if he were a pane of glass.

“Hey!” I argued. “I promised you I’d get him back, but that’s it. I didn’t ask for you guys to be knocking on my door and I certainly don’t intend to be sticking around.” Another tree had caught fire and the smoke began getting thicker. I slowly stepped into a thinner spot, inhaling. Willow was going to kill me when she saw I’d wrecked even more trees.

Before I could even process what to do next, Grahame stood in front of me instead, emerging with a slight crack as the deadened leaves exploded around us in a swarm of debris and ash. I hadn’t even noticed him move. Any thought that could be processed in those seconds, was lost as the air was catapulted out of my lungs, and my arms flung forward like a marionette. He struck faster than a lightning bolt, catching me straight in the stomach. I haunched over, winded.

“Oof!” In those milliseconds, this was how I believed I had died, and in a blink, he was gone. The ashy smoke filled the trail behind where he’d disappeared. “Asshole.” I rasped trying to pull in the air. Sitting down I drew my legs to my chest, gasping to take a breath. Combined with the growing smoke it was impossible to do anything but try to fill my lungs. The muscles in m chest burnt with the impact of the force. If I was human he could’ve killed me.

It wasn’t until I could take a few short breaths that I heard him returning. The thrum of running steps signified his approach before I saw him. Now empty-handed Grahame again slammed into me before I could brace. Tensed for another hit, at first, I didn’t realise arms were wrapped over my thighs and it suddenly dawned on me I was being carried. The blurred floor whizzed past and the only constant was Grahame’s carved, uncomfortable back. No! I pounded Grahame’s back with my fists. “Let go of me goddamnit!” But he either choose to ignore me, or he had no eardrums.

Chest still in agony my stomach lurched at the world moving quicker than my brain could process.

We almost seemed to glide with each step so it took me a moment to realise we’d stopped, at which point, my stomach caught up to me and erupted into the floor in a shocking amount of vomit. Surprisingly gentle, Grahame sat me on the floor with a condescending pat. Another wave of nausea; this time he pulled my hair back as the rest of my stomach launched out.

“Holy hell!” I cursed when it subsided.

“Sorry, I forget it doesn’t go down well with most people to go that fast.” My eyes couldn’t seem to focus on all three Grahames at once. He was grinning far too much.

“Did you put the fire out?” Leofstan asked. He too was sat, resting against a brick wall, shaded behind an industrial bin, looking much like a discarded corpse and as pale as a ghost. His chest jarred with each breath. Grahame’s jacket was now covering as much as it could as we were indoors but the bruising was a colourful bouquet display across his chest.

“The human fire engines are on the way. I’ll cover it as a wildfire. One of the Afancs has volunteered to divert a lake to subdue it.”

“All three of you should split up.” I slurred at the Grahames’. “That’ll confuse it.”

“Lie down Ms. Doukas, it’ll help.” He replied. Well, maybe I didn’t want to lie down.

Leofstan exhaled gratefully. “Thanks, Gray, make sure they don’t try and flood the town too. See you in a couple.” One of the Grays disappeared. I squinted as the other two followed after him. Leo’s exhale turned into a hoarse wheeze, coughing up some fresh blood. ” ’Andine.” He called.

I rested my head between my knees to stop the world from spinning. “Yeah?” I answered.

“Promise me,” voice almost a whisper, “you didn’t embed that gem on purpose.” His voice cracked on the last word.

His seemed so small compared o normal. “I Promise.”

Almost as quickly he asked, “Are you lying?“.

And for once, I actually wasn’t. “No.”

A sound akin to a strangled sob escaped him. “I was convinced I’d die today,” shudders wracked him. After a pause he added, ”But slavery may be worse.”

“Sorry about that. Had to make you seem worthless.”

“But you marked me. Claimed you owned me.”

“Until that faery tested the gem,” I began to laugh giddily, “it was a complete buff.” From the corner of my eye, Leofstan stiffened, his face frozen. “I think I was more surprised than Soirrinar!”.

He took a deep inhale, tilting to look at the sky eyes half-lidded. He had a small beard that had grown through which made his face look ruggedly haggard. Now and again his face would pull a different expression until finally he settled on something. “So you never did it to tap into my magic.” A statement, rather than a question.

“Tap your magic?” I asked confused. He rubbed his fingertips against the pavement. “I thought your magic is like a rock through a cheese grater to me, right?”

He frowned, adopting a rather thoughtful pout.

“Unrefined yes.” His voice drifted off, not explaining. Suddenly he lamented sadly, “I do wish Gray had sat me by a bush.” No doubt he wasn’t tapping into magic very fast through the floor. “I couldn’t draw magic to heal in Faery, it was...” he groaned again. “I... ’Andine, I was worthless there.” His fists tensed.

Well, at least he didn’t need it pointed out.

He clenched his teeth as his complexion grew ever paler. Blood slowly seeped from him. What did he mean by unrefined? I’d accidentally tampered with his spell but he was worried about me embedding the gem on purpose.

“Do you refine magic then?” I asked, but he sighed at my question but didn’t answer.

Continuing on the trail of my thoughts, “So, can I pull magic from a person... if it’s refined. It wouldn’t matter the magic origin?”

He turned slowly, studying my face. ”All living things are conduits.” Voice soft.

“You said some people are better than others at channelling magic.” I supplied, remembering his words.

His mouth curled into a wry smile “Correct.”

“Then why bother getting magic from the source? Surely it would be more efficient to just have a few people on tap.”

”It’s not quite that simple.” He groaned. “Ultimately, magic cannot be taken by force.”

“Why?”

“Naturally, the owner needs it as it’s their energy they’ve refined. It’s like pulling out blood.” He tried to move position and gave in, face contorted with pain. “We cannot hold other people’s magic, that’s why we require amulets.”

I felt a cold shiver pass, the hairs standing on the edge of my arms.

He sighed. “I am a fool to let this happen. Should one of us die, we will kill the other.”

My head whiplashed so quickly at the information I brought back the motion sickness.

“Magic is energy. As every living creature takes a breath, they must use every opportunity to fight for life.” His smile thinned. “Every time through history when a linking has occurred, the one which is first to die naturally pulls the life from the other to remain alive.” Smiling sadly he closed his eyes, fingertips passing at some weeds growing between the cracks in the floor that had not been there moments ago. ”It has been several generations since I have met someone even close to wielding power on the same level as me, let alone to encounter someone untrained enough to pervert a spell into such chaos.”

I closed my hand around the gem. An amulet holding a spell that was now stuck inside of me. A channel that opened to a pure source of refined magic.