Influential_Magic

chapter 26





The guard’s white uniform glowed in the dim light of the basement. He stopped at the base of the stairwell and squinted.

The wolf watched him through gold eyes, his shoulders lowered, legs bent, ready to pounce. I sucked in a breath. Watching him wait for the exact moment made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

The guard spotted Link and his eyes went wide with recognition. “What the hell? How—”

Link lunged, his entire wolf body engulfing the short, pudgy guard in one swift motion. A high-pitched scream of terror filled the room, making me wince. Some guard he was. He sounded like a girl. Link swiped a heavy paw across the man’s face, silencing the earsplitting noise. The guard collapsed. Knocked out or dead, I didn’t know. Nor did I care. Blood pooled a few feet from my cage. Link snarled and nudged the unmoving body with his long nose.

“Good job, Link.” I rose, arching my back, favoring my right wing as I tried not to hurl from the pain. That was one man down. But Link couldn’t get them all. And he wouldn’t leave me. I stared at his massive form. How had he shifted? We were still in the Arcane. As long as we were in the building, he shouldn’t have been able to. Was it because we were underground? Maybe the magic keeping the place dry interfered with the neutralizing ward.

Had my magic come back? I clutched the door of my cage and glanced around at all the cement and metal around me. Useless. Even if I did have a spark somewhere, I didn’t have anything to siphon life from. And I wouldn’t weaken Link. Unless…“Link!”

He snapped to attention and turned his giant head toward me.

“Pull the guard over here.”

His eyebrows twitched as if he was contemplating my request.

“Just grab him and pull him to me.” I pointed. Come on. Who knew when the next visitor would be down or when they’d miss the guard?

Link circled the man with his lip raised and then sniffed his black work boots. He jumped back as if the scent offended him. What could be so bad that even a dog wasn’t interested? I wrinkled my nose in sympathy. I wouldn’t want to put my mouth on the ruddy man, either.

Gingerly, Link wrapped his muzzle around the man’s ankle and dragged him inch by inch until he lay along the edge of my cage. The wolf spat out the man’s limb and hacked, a full-on, hairball-raising hack.

“Yikes.” What could possibly make Link gag? I knelt down to inspect the guard. Halfway to the ground, a sudden assault of formaldehyde hit my senses. “Oh, yuck. I’m so sorry, buddy.”

The wolf lowered himself to the floor and covered his nose with one paw.

“Yeah, no kidding. What is this dude, a zombie?” He reeked of chemicals and death. I placed a hand over his chest and let out a relieved sigh when it rose on an intake of breath. At least he wasn’t dead. If he was, he’d be useless to me.

Moment of truth. I needed a life source. If I’d regained any sort of magical strength, I’d know as soon as I touched him. But where? I’d need an exposed section of skin. His hands or face. Because no way was I stripping down the stinky super geek. His hands were caked with blood from defending himself against Link and so was the right side of his face. Jesus. My dog was lethal. I’d known it intellectually, but he’d never had to take on a human before. Only vampires, and their wounds stitched themselves closed within seconds of splitting open.

I grimaced as I rested two fingers on the man’s left temple. Then I snatched them back. I couldn’t take life energy from his brain. It would make me sick. Faeries could share energy. Faeries and humans, not so much. But I could take a little just to see if my magic was back.

Get it over with, Willow. Closing my eyes, I touched his blood-soaked hand and searched deep inside myself for a spark of magic.

Nothing.

The little tingle that usually sprang to life at the tips of my fingers stayed dormant. I let out a frustrated sigh. Maybe my body still needed time to adjust. Link always did regain his magic before I did after a trip to the Arcane.

I pressed my fingers against the guard one more time, but no matter how far I searched within myself, no magic came to the surface.

Well, crap. Now what? I needed a weapon. Or better yet, a key. A key! The concrete and metal must be zapping my brainpower. Why hadn’t I thought of that first?

“Link, help me search.” Trying not to breathe in the sickening stench of the man, I dug into his coat pockets. “He might have a key to this cage.”

Link sniffed along the opposite side of the guard’s body while I frantically moved to his pants pocket. The only thing I found was a wallet. Henry Mincer. Lived in Kentwood. No other identifying information except a credit card and a health ID card. “Come on, Henry. You’ve got to have something useful.”

I found a ballpoint pen in his shirt pocket. Great. A makeshift weapon. I set it aside and tried to reach forward to get to his other pockets, but my wing and back froze in protest. I hissed and sat back, holding my wing tight to my body.

Link gazed at me with worried eyes.

“I’ll be okay once we get out of here.” I hoped.

He nudged the jacket pocket I hadn’t been able to reach with his nose.

“Did you find something?” I sat up on my knees, pressed against the door, and peered over his body. Tentatively, I stretched my arm through the diamond-shaped wire but snatched it back when the lightning bolts shot through my back. No way was I going to be able to reach it without passing out. I clenched my fists and tried to stabilize my breathing.

Across from me, Link shimmered and returned to his Shih Tzu form. He eyed me, wagged his tail, and went to work on the guard’s pocket. His much smaller Shih Tzu paw slipped right in and a loud tink sounded on the concrete. He fished whatever it was away from the body with his paws and then grabbed the shiny metal cluster in his teeth.

“The keys!” I cried. “Link, bud. You really are a girl’s best friend.”

He trotted up to me, his hurt paw healed by the shift, and dropped the key ring near my hand. Then he sat there, his tongue hanging out in happy satisfaction.

I gave him a pet behind the ears and scratched his chin. “You’re such a good boy.”

With shaky hands, I grabbed the keys, trying each one. By the time I got down to the last three, I could barely jam the key into the lock. They all fit. Every single one. But none of them would pop the lock.

“Please, please, please,” I whispered, nearly dropping the key ring. I’d just got the final key stuffed in the lock when another short burst of fluorescent light rushed in from the top of the stairs. A door slammed, followed by the sounds of multiple footsteps descending into the basement.

Shit! How many were coming? Two? Three? I clutched the pen, knowing in my heart I’d never beat them all. I wasn’t trained in combat. It would be a miracle if I could take out one. I steeled myself and tightened my grip on my pitiful weapon. No way was I going down without a fight.

Link jumped up and, to my complete surprise, shimmered slightly and shifted. He was getting stronger. Or maybe it was my fear that boosted his stamina. Either way, I had to stifle a gasp of relief.

I cranked the key in the lock, but it didn’t turn. My last damn key didn’t work. A hopeless dread crawled into my gut. Would I ever find a way out? Still unable to see our visitors, I eased back, not wanting to appear suspicious, and jammed my hands in my pockets. My right fingers hit something warm and mushy.

Gross. I pulled my hand out, eyed the brown, waxy coating, and sniffed in the cocoa-orange scent. Influence. My heart sped up. Another weapon. My lonely pen had a partner in crime. And I was just desperate enough to use it.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Heavy footsteps pounded down the lower stairs.

Link hovered near the wall, out of sight from the stairwell opening.

“F*ck,” came the sound of a deep male voice. “Can’t anyone put a brighter bulb in down here? I can barely see anything.”

“Stop bitching.” Maude’s voice was flat, barely audible. “Just find out what Mincer’s doing and get back up here.”

“F*cking Mincer,” the male voice muttered, then raised his voice. “What the hell is going on down here? Got a hard-on for the faery?”

His steps slowed. “Mincer?”

Link crept closer to the stairwell opening.

“What the f*ck is that smell? Jesus, if you took out the faery, the director’s going to eat you for breakfast.” The tall, lanky guard came into view as he stepped out of the stairwell and into the basement. His eyes flickered over me, caught sight of Link’s broken cage, and then landed on Mincer’s unconscious body. “Oh, f*ck.”

Link leapt. In less than a second, he had the new guard pinned to the concrete. The guard howled with pain as Link held him down, mauling his face. The guard’s limbs flailed around the wolf, but Link was too strong.

I turned away, not at all comfortable with watching my dog attack the guy.

“What’s going on down there?” Maude’s voice floated from the top of the stairs. “Bass, Mincer, get your asses up here now.”

Bass brought up one arm and clocked Link right below his pointed ear. Link shook his head as if to ward off a fly and sank his teeth into his victim’s shoulder. Bass shrieked.

“Link!” I cried, clutching the side of my cage. “Look out!”

Maude flew down the stairwell, tranq gun aimed at the wolf.

“No!” I shook the cage, terrified for Link. My wing jostled against the metal bars, sending pain shooting through my shoulder and down my arm, but I shoved the burning aside. If that was a vampire dart, Link would be dead.

Maude fired.

My world narrowed to include only Link, half of his body illuminated by the green bulb, the rest in shadows. Link’s head turned toward the noise as his body crouched in defense. The dart sailed deadly silent through the air and landed with a piercing thunk in Link’s right paw.

His body slumped, landing on Bass in a heap. Those glassy, unfocused eyes darted around the room before they settled on me. I rattled my cage, unbridled fury filling every inch of my being. “You killed him!” Kicking out, I yanked as hard as I could on the metal. I was so angry I didn’t even feel the pain anymore. “You evil bitch. You killed my dog.”

Maude stepped into the basement and kicked Bass’s shoulder.

A whimper escaped his bloody lips.

“Your dog deserves to die for what he did to my assistants.” Maude flashed me an impatient grimace.

“Deserves?” I ground out. “All he did was try to protect me from your illegal imprisonment.” Hot tears welled in my eyes. I forced them back. No way was I breaking down. Lowering my voice, my tone came out hard and flat. “You’re a monster.”

“Drop the act, Rhoswen. We both know you’re at the mercy of my goodwill.” She fluttered slightly off the ground, her black wings shimmering in the faint glow. She landed beside Mincer and nudged his face with a high-heeled Mary Jane sandal. He didn’t move. Her gaze ran the length of the cage as if checking to be sure I really was locked in. Then she spotted the keys hanging from the lock. She laughed. “At least you aren’t weak-willed. That’s good. Very good.”

I longed to spit on her. She deserved worse. Much worse. But pissing her off wasn’t going to get her to open the door faster. I cut my gaze to Link, lying limp on the floor. My heart pounded against my ribcage. There was nothing I wanted more at that moment than to be by his side.

Maude tilted her head and eyed him. “First your vampire and now your dog. Next it will be Agent Kilsen…or maybe your fae friend.”

Every muscle tensed with rage. I had bottled up all the anger, all the hatred, and every ounce of strength I had left. She would not hurt one more person I loved. Not one.

Staring at her with an expression as blank as I could muster, I slipped my hands into the front pockets of my jeans and took a small step back.

A wide, triumphant smile broke out on her face. “That’s right. Now you’re seeing reason. Give me your word you’ll behave and I’ll take you upstairs for your assessment.”

Assessment. Right. She was going to run experiments on me until they understood two things: my ability to sense vampires and how I had turned David into a daywalker. Hell, they’d probably also keep me locked up and force me to pump out Influence while they were at it.

I said nothing, avoiding her gaze, too afraid she’d see the calm resolve hidden behind my false obedience.

Maude pulled a phone from her pocket, hit the screen, and a second later barked, “Get to the basement.” She stuffed the phone back in the pocket of her blazer and pulled out a key. “You honestly didn’t think I’d give this to anyone else, did you?”

I stared at it, willing her to insert the key into the lock.

She held it up, turning it over in her hand. “Are you ready to cooperate?”

Grinding my teeth together, I forced a short nod.

“That’s what I thought.” Her slender hands gracefully slid the key into the lock, and with one twist the heavy metal came apart. “If you don’t cause any trouble, there might be food and water for you.”

I licked my dry lips. Water. I took two steps forward.

Maude opened the gate, then instantly slammed it shut again. She pressed close to the door, her face almost touching the metal. “But if you so much as even breathe wrong, I’ll break your other wing and throw you back in this cell. Got it?”

Numb from sheer hatred, I forced myself to give her another tiny nod.

“Say you’ll behave.”

She’d lost her mind. How had a faery, a relative of mine, turned out to be so…evil?

“Say it,” she demanded.

Faint footsteps started at the top of the stairs again. In panic, I blurted out the words, “I’ll behave.”

“Good.” Maude nodded in approval. “Very good.”

The sound on the stairs grew louder with each second. Time to move.

Maude held the door to my cage open and waved an arm, inviting me out. I forced one steady step in front of the other, keeping my hands stuffed in my pockets, hunching as if I were defeated. I stepped over Mincer, still lying on the floor, and strode past Maude.

“Wait.” She stuffed the key back in her coat and stalked around me. “That wing is really bad.”

I nodded, wincing when she touched the sensitive tip. It trembled under the pressure.

“A shame really,” she said with a glint in her eye. “If you come up lame, you’ll have to quit your field job and work in the lab.”

Oh. Hell. No. She’d already formed a plan for transferring me. If she had her way, she’d do more damage to my wing just to make sure no one decided I should help track vamps again.

“Follow me,” she said. “And keep up.”

Her massive wings fluttered, and she rose a few inches off the ground, flying beside me.

I snapped. One second my right hand was stuffed into my front pocket with the melted Influence and the next, I cocked my elbow, twisted, and struck a blow.

My fist bounced off her cheekbone.

Maude fell from flight and stumbled, appearing more surprised than hurt. “You little—”

Despite the pain trying to claim my senses, I struck again. Only this time, I jammed my fingers in her open mouth. The ones that were laced with Influence. I stuffed them as far as they would go, only withdrawing when she started to gag.

“Swallow,” I demanded.

Her eyes went round with shock and panic. “No, no, no,” she mumbled and started wiping her tongue, as if that would do any good.

The person on the stairs finally appeared. A medium-built, dark-haired man, wearing dress pants and a button-down shirt, stared at us. “What’s going on here? Maude? Are you all right?”

He almost appeared normal. As if he cared about her. But the handcuffs and the gun in his holster gave him away. I’d bet my other wing he was an undercover agent, just like Phoebe. He had a serious, thoughtful quality about him.

Maude stopped dabbing at her tongue and slowly stood up straight. She glanced around, her eyes taking in the moaning bodies on the floor, the agent, Link, and then finally landed on me. “You’re hurt.”

I nodded, cautious in case she was putting on an act.

“You need help.” She fished around in her pockets until she came up with her phone again.

“Maude?” the agent asked.

She glanced at him as she hit a button.

“No!” I rushed forward, grabbing the phone from her. “No help. I’ll take care of it.”

Her eyes narrowed in concern. True concern. Not something I’d ever seen her express in the last three years.

The agent moved forward. “Maude, I really think you should—”

“Do as I say,” I blurted.

She straightened, her thin body appearing two feet taller than normal. Then she shuddered and her face went slack for a moment.

The agent moved closer to her, his hand outstretched. “Do you need to see someone? You look…off.”

But she didn’t look off at all. Not to me. Her shoulders relaxed, a hint of a smile on her angular face, and when she turned to me she said, “What are you doing down here? You hate being underground.”

Fat tears of relief sprang to my eyes. She wasn’t the director I’d come to loathe in the last few years. She was my aunt. The one who used to visit when Beau and I were kids. The sweet, loving, caring aunt I’d long since forgotten. I clamped down on the joy blossoming in my chest.

You can’t trust her, Wil.

Her act could be a very clever ruse.

“Take me home, Maude,” I whispered the order, casting a sideways glance at the agent.

“Of course. Sure.” She snapped her fingers. “Agent, arrange for my niece to get home as soon as possible.”

He glanced between the two of us, clearly suspicious. Maude was not following the plan. Oh no. Maude needed to get her she-bitch back in gear, stat. Or else he was going to be a problem.

“Now, Agent!” she demanded. “Can’t you see she’s hurt? And get someone to carry her dog out to the car.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The agent cast me a cold hard stare and then ran up the stairs two at a time.

He wasn’t buying Maude’s sudden change of heart. We had to get out of there. Fast. Before the cavalry came. I turned to Maude. “Listen.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Whatever happens, your first priority is to get me and Link out of the building. You are to follow my orders and no one else’s. Are you clear?”

“Clear,” she parroted.

“Good,” I said more to myself than her as I eyed Link. No way was I leaving him, but we couldn’t carry him either. I crouched down beside him, and let out an enormous sigh of relief when his chest rose. He was indeed alive. Thank the powers that be.

I ran my hand over his fur, reached down, and yanked out the yellow dart still stuck in his leg. The shimmering glow encircled him and a second later he was Shih Tzu again. The dart. That’s what had kept him wolf while he’d been out. And his wolf form had saved his life.

Whooping for joy, I grabbed him and hugged him to my chest. I glanced back at Maude. “Let’s go.”

“You’re the boss,” she said cheerily and swept past me up the stairs. When she got halfway up, she glanced back. “You know, I don’t think the director is going to like this.”

I stopped my laborious climb and braced myself against the wall with my free hand. “The director? You’re the director.”

She laughed, a deep throaty sound. “No. That’s what he wants you to think. He likes moving the players around the board. But now…Well, things just got really interesting.”

She was amused. Completely and utterly thrilled to be under my control. And I hadn’t compelled her to think or feel any particular way. A horrible realization washed over me. “Maude?”

“Yes?”

“How long have you been under the Influence?”

“Combined time?”

I nodded.

“Three years. Right after you invented it.”