The man stood in front of my closed door, wearing a dark blue hoodie that obscured his face. Had Kael sent him to be extra protection for me?
No, that’s not right. He had never sent other people here, and if he had, he would have sent Aidan.
Whoever this man was, he was definitely no friend. There was something incredibly off about him. His presence gave me a chill, as if leeching the warmth out of the room.
The stranger moved forward, and his steps rustled, like a snake slithering through leaves.
I retreated a step, and my back hit the dresser. The dark opening of his hood followed my movement, and finally, I got a glimpse of his eyes as my dresser lamp illuminated his face. His pupils were dark and narrow like a serpent. He pulled in a deep breath through wide nostrils and grinned, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.
What the hell was this guy?
Fae, perhaps? Renathe, my new fae friend who owned a ritzy club back in my hometown, had been filling me in on his kind over our chats on the phone. I knew that some had wings, or horns, or scales. Of course, there were those like Ren who looked just as human as myself. Whether this man was a fae or not, I could see the intentions in his stare, and they were anything but friendly.
My gaze flicked to my bag where I’d dropped it on my desk. By instinct, I wanted to get to my knife, only to remember I no longer had the weapon. During the altercation in England, the blade had been disintegrated when I stabbed a giant panther with it.
It was too soon for Kael to be arriving any second, so I would have to fight the strange man alone. I had no weapons…except myself.
Magic hummed and swirled beneath my skin, ready and eager to be released. The man took another step forward, and I shifted to the side. I could probably take him on, but there were others in the hotel, and they were innocent people. I didn’t want to risk anyone getting hurt.
The man charged at me. I grabbed the office chair to my left and wheeled it in front of me. He stumbled as it collided with him, and I took the chance to go for my bag. If I could get to my cell inside of it, I could call Kael for backup.
Before I could reach it, the man leaped back to his feet and jumped onto the bed. He crouched there and leaned forward slightly. His eyes glowing with greed and excitement.
“Give me the key.”
His voice was shockingly normal. Given his appearance, I had expected something akin to rasping or hissing.
“What key?” Yep, I was going for the play dumb tactic to buy myself some time.
I inched another step toward my bag on the desk, but he lunged forward, and I stopped in my tracks.
He inhaled another deep breath. “I can smell the power within you. I can smell your magic-touched soul, and I want it.” His eyes dropped to my shirt, as if he was drawn to the keys beneath. More specifically, the one tethered to my soul.
I had no choice.
Energy swirled above my palms and caressed my fingers. It was still unusual to me, bringing forth the ancient magic that had been unlocked inside myself with a cursed key. Even more disconcerting were the flashes of a past life, my past life, it had brought with it. Sacrifice and blood and death, mostly. True, the dark mage Vehrin had been there, wreaking havoc on humanity, but the sacrifices still twisted my gut whenever the memory came to mind.
The man in front of me had stilled at the sight of the magic licking across my skin. It didn’t seem to be fear that had him holding his ground, though. His slow smile told me he was seeing a glimpse of the prize he thought he was about to win.
I dashed toward him, but he lurched to the side. I wheeled around to find him skidding across the wall, his sharp nails ripping through the flower-patterned wallpaper.
Gritting my teeth, I let loose a sphere of swirling energy at the intruder as his feet hit the floor. The magic collided with him, and he stumbled. He recovered quickly, much faster than was humanly possible. He yelled, and as he took a step toward me, I hit him with my magic again, forcing him to retreat into a corner.
I’ve got him, I thought. I squared my shoulders and settled my gaze on him. I could hold him here long enough for—
My door burst open. A brief flash of relief washed through me. Kael.
But when I looked over my shoulder, I found another stranger dashing into my room. A man with Herculean muscles that would put Aidan to shame. He had a pair of small, black horns on his head and a peculiar greenish tint to his skin.
A horrible odor preceded him, like rot and sour mud. I wrinkled my nose, and a grin cracked his wide face, revealing spittle hanging from his yellow teeth.
Gross.
I peeked quickly at the first assailant still crouched against the corner. He was peering at the giant man with narrowed eyes and a tight jaw. Obviously, these two weren’t working together.
“Give me the key.” The second man, or thing rather since he was obviously not human, had a deep and guttural voice.
“I was here first,” the other man argued. “She’s mine.”
“Excuse me,” I cut in. “No one is getting me or the key.”
They seemed unaware of the fact that I possessed two keys, or perhaps they were only interested in the one that was tied to my soul. If they managed to get the golden relic, I would have no choice but to do their bidding.
I couldn’t let that happen. No one was going to control me.
The horned man laughed. “You’re going to beg for mercy when I get my hands on you.”
He started for me on heavy footsteps, and then a loud and vicious snarling broke through the room.
A large jaguar leaped up and the man yelped, reaching back and trying to get a hold of the cat that was sinking his claws through clothes and flesh.
Kael.
For real this time.
And a few other jaguar shifters that worked for PITO accompanied him. I’d seen them several times, but I would know Kael anywhere. Over our time spent chasing the mage and staying here, I had come to easily recognize the pattern of spots that splashed across his golden-brown fur. Plus, he was easily the largest jaguar shifter I had seen so far.
I turned from Kael’s attack to the first man, but he was already getting to his feet. Idiot. I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted.
He reached for me so fast, his sharp nails eager to take a hold of me, that I didn’t even think of releasing another attack of magic on him. Instead, my fist shot forward and smashed into his face.
He yelled as he brought his hands up to his nose that had crunched beneath my knuckles. His strange, slit eyes narrowed as he lowered his hands. He bared his teeth, blood running down over his stretched lips.
Intent burned in his gaze. He was going to take me.
My hand seemed to burst into fire as something uncontrollable rose to the surface. The man’s eyes widened with greed. I smirked, then my hand shot forward…right into his chest. My magic-coated fingers tore right through skin, and muscle, and bone. He fixed me with a gaze that grew cold with confusion and fear. He let out a ragged gasp, and then his body collapsed heavily to the floor.
The yearning for death and destruction burned through my veins and tugged at my muscles. I would kill them all to keep my power, to keep myself from being taken. I would crack the bones and spill the blood of everyone. I would hear their screams and―
No.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled in deep breaths through my nose.
No, that isn’t me.
I fought down the magic that felt foreign and delightful at the same time. I had to get control of it.
I opened my eyes, and my throat burned with bile. Blood smeared up my hand and over my wrist. The man on the floor had blood soaking the front of his shirt and puddling beneath him. I swallowed, certain a few moments ago I had felt the erratic, pumping muscle of his heart in my fingers. My ears rang.
What was I becoming?
A warm nudge on the back of my leg made me jump, and I glanced down. It was Kael. He peered up at me with intense, amber eyes. Blood flecked his jaw, and his thick tail twitched impatiently. His sides heaved, but he didn’t appear to be injured. Behind him, the other intruder lay dead with his throat torn out.
I pushed past Kael and went straight to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me. I wrenched on the handle of the sink, grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap, and started scrubbing. Steam rose quickly, but I didn’t care if the water was near scalding. I just wanted the blood off my skin.
It wasn’t as if it were the first time I had blood from another on me. Reality told me it wouldn’t likely be the last, either. It was the way the blood was there, and the fact that I had shoved my fist into another being’s chest. Killing with a weapon was one thing, but doing it with nothing more than my hand seemed barbaric. It wasn’t like me.
I turned the water off, my skin pink from the hot water but thoroughly clean, and peered at myself in the mirror. A part of me was afraid I would see someone else staring back, someone ancient and dark.
The worst part was not knowing myself. When I had first found myself with magic after my trip to the Amazon, I had been scared, but the magic had grown to be a part of me. After the fight with the mage, and binding my soul to the key, it was as if something else had tied itself to me. A different magic—more powerful, dangerous, and wild. Was it part of Vehrin’s power, leeched to me from wounding him, or had something else been unlocked from within?
I wasn’t certain how long I stared at myself in the mirror, searching for any hint that something had changed, that someone else was hiding within, but a soft knock eventually broke me from my trance.
“Livvie?” Kael’s voice was quiet and strained.
Livvie. I hadn’t been certain what to think of his sudden nickname for me. Everyone else called me Olivia, but I had grown accustomed to, and even liked, Kael’s pet name for me.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
I pulled in a deep breath and opened the door. He stepped back, gaze running up and down me in what I knew was a wound-check.
“I said I’m fine.” My words were heavy with exhaustion. That unnerving attack of mine had left my energy drained.
Kael didn’t say anything, but his brows were pinched with worry. More often than not when Kael was around me, his face was either creased with worry or irritation. He had a really great smile, when I could squeeze one out of him.
Wanting the attention off of me, I jerked my head toward the bodies soaking the carpet with blood. “Who were they?”
“Demons.”
My mouth dropped open. Demons? I was barely used to the knowledge that shifters, witches, and fae existed, but now there were demons? I was tempted to ask if dragons and unicorns existed, but Kael continued.
“Vehrin is growing more powerful. Dark beings are starting to wriggle up through the cracks.”
Fantastic.
“How can he be growing more powerful without the keys?”
Kael shrugged. “He still has magic. I would assume it is waking, growing more powerful, just like yours.”
I glanced at the demon I had killed. Growing more powerful seemed like a daunting prospect to me, both for Vehrin and myself.
“Maybe your strikes aren’t as sloppy as I thought.” Kael pulled his gaze from the demon with a hole in his chest that my fist had put there. There was a rare grin on his face.
I couldn’t bring myself to smile. “You’re back early.”
“We have a location for the mage. I came to tell you to get your things packed. We need to go.”
Packing was a short affair, since I didn’t have much. Kael had dropped his bag in the hallway, and he scooped it up and slung it onto his shoulder as we headed down the hallway. He had made a quick phone call, telling the person on the other end about the mess we’d left behind. Thank goodness we wouldn’t be required to clean up. I couldn’t stomach the thought of being around all that blood for a second longer.
As we stepped onto the elevator, an eagerness settled into my bones. I was uncertain if it was my own, or the ancient magic within me that was looking forward to once again hunting the mage.
Soon, excitement was replaced by a crawling fear that, eventually, I was going to lose myself. And if I did, what sort of dark, dangerous power would be unleashed then?