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SORCHA SEETHED AS SHE descended the stairs. She opened the door and stalked past the two Night Cursed agents, then took the path to the gate. When she was a few blocks away from the mansion, she teleported to the City Square. No one had followed her, so she walked the rest of the way to her home.
She heard methodical thumps coming from the training room when she entered through the back door. Too furious to head up to her apartment, the sorceress stalked down the hall and entered the training room. The incubus looked at her with a small scowl, clearly wanting to be alone. Before he could speak, she lifted both hands and blasted one of the wooden dummies with magic.
Malachi’s mouth dropped open when a thin layer of ice coated the dummy. A fireball melted the ice, then the dummy burst into flames. He’d been working on using his fae magic and used air to put the flames out, scattering ashes all over the place. “What’s got your knickers in a twist?” he asked her sourly.
Sorcha put her hands over her face to hold in her emotions. The incubus crossed to her and put his arms around her. “I know who killed Eden,” she said, words muffled by her hands.
Malachi drew back so he could see her face. “How did you find that out?” he demanded and gave her a light shake when she didn’t answer him.
The sorceress dropped her hands and her expression was bleak. “I just spoke to Lord Dallinar and he let it slip,” she said.
“Did that little bastard touch you?” her friend asked in a harsh, angry tone.
“He touched my cheek and my magic flared up,” she said. “He’s lucky he cast that shield to protect himself years ago, or I would have fried him.” He snickered, then she smiled, then they both began to laugh.
“It would have served him right,” Malachi said when he got himself under control. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed, but it had been before his sister had died. “Who killed Eden?” he asked in a gentler tone.
“A master vampire called Sebastian,” she replied.
“I’ve never heard of him,” the incubus said.
“Neither have I, but he’s apparently one of Lord Kreaton’s old rivals.”
“There’s no surprises there,” he murmured, then ushered her into the living room across the hall. Tea appeared on the coffee table for the sorceress and soda appeared for him as they sat down.
“We know who is responsible for killing Eden now,” Sorcha said, picking her cup up and cradling it. “We should work together to take him down.”
“He has to pay for taking my sister’s life,” Malachi agreed. “I should do some research on this guy before we try to assassinate him. If he managed to take Eden down and survive, he must be pretty powerful.”
“I don’t understand why they sent Eden to kill him,” Sorcha said in frustration. “Her talent didn’t work on vampires.”
“She’s fast and strong,” he reminded her, accidentally referring to his sister as if she was still with them. “They must have thought she’d have a better chance of eliminating him than either of us would have.”
“We’ve never murdered anyone we haven’t been ordered to kill before,” she said as she contemplated their secret plan to seek revenge.
“This isn’t for our lords and masters,” Malachi said in a grim tone. “This is personal.”
She nodded her agreement and took a sip of tea. It had a soothing blend of herbs rather than normal tea and her rage began to subside again. She had to remain focused and in control rather than letting her emotions rule her if she wanted to succeed. “I created a new spell that will help you scout the Vampire District without being discovered,” she said.
Malachi’s eyebrows rose as he slung a leg over the arm of his chair. “This should be good,” he predicted.
“It’s a shield that can nullify our scent and muffle any noise we make.”
He almost spat out the mouthful of soda he was swigging down in surprise. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and gave her a reproachful look when she smirked at him. “That would have been handy when you had to kill that demon,” he said wryly.
“I only thought of the odor nullifying spell after they caught my scent and became obsessed with killing me,” she said in self-defense. “I thought of muffling my noise when I was hunting a shifter recently.”
“How long does the spell last?” the incubus asked.
“As long as I want it to, I guess,” she replied. “The only problem is that if muffles all noise, including our voices. It also shorts out when I teleport.”
“Hmm,” Malachi mused as he thought over how useful a shield like that would be. It would help him scout out this Sebastian vampire. If he ran into anyone he needed to talk to, they wouldn’t be able to hear him speak. He’d already dismissed the idea of trying to track Jardine down to ask her about this master vampire. They might be allies and he didn’t want her to get drawn into his feud. “Come and see me after nightfall tomorrow night so you can cast that spell on me,” he decided. “I’ll scout out the Vampire District and you can dispel the shield when I’m done. I’ll wait for you in here if you’re not home when I get back.”
“Okay,” Sorcha agreed, knowing Malachi could look after himself. She trusted him to be discreet when scouting for their target. He might not be able to teleport, but he was resourceful. Besides, she could do some snooping of her own in the Vampire District without him even realizing it.
Now that they’d decided on a plan, they split up. She headed upstairs to her apartment, while Malachi returned to the training room. The dummy had been repaired in his absence. All traces of the ashen remains were gone.
Sorcha took a shower, then sat down on her gold divan to brood. The image of the handsome courier had been permanently etched onto the window. She studied his face and longing rose inside her. She touched the image and wished she could know what it felt like to be kissed, even if it was just once.
A wistful sigh escaped from her and she withdrew her hand. While she hadn’t hurt them when her magic had spiraled out of control, it was enough to give the Immortal Triumvirate pause. God only knew what it would do to someone who didn’t have shields like they did. “I’d probably zap them to death,” she muttered dourly.
After an endless day full of restless sleep, she got dressed in workout clothes to hide her true intentions, then headed downstairs to Malachi’s apartment. He opened the door when she knocked and ushered her inside. “Do your thing, oh feeble one,” he said with a grin. It was good to see he’d regained some of his cheerful nature, but it was going to take a long time before they would stop grieving for Eden.
The sorceress cast the scent and noise muffling shield around him. “There,” she said in satisfaction. “It’s done.” His lips moved when he said something to her and she shook her head. “I can’t hear you, dummy,” she reminded him with an eye roll. He gave her the thumbs up, then pointed at the door for her to leave. “Good luck and don’t get dead,” she said. He made a face, then gave her a small shove to get her going. She stopped when she realized a flaw in his plan. “You won’t be able to tell the skeletons where you want to go if any of them stop to pick you up,” she said.
Malachi noiselessly slapped his forehead, then shrugged and pointed at his feet.
“You’re going to run all the way to the Vampire District and back?” she asked him skeptically. He nodded, then shut the door in her face so he could get ready for his private mission.
Sorcha retreated downstairs to wait in the training room. She heard the back door open and close a few minutes later. Only the noises Malachi’s body made were muffled. The spell didn’t extend to objects that he touched. Now that he was gone, she could embark on her own secret task to search for the master vampire called Sebastian.
