Dark Harvest (Darkling Mage 2)

Gil cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. “So. Do we barge them and charge them?”

“The two of you will,” Carver said, weaving his fingers in the air in front of him. “Dustin. You stay back, lurk in the dark, and shadowstep your way in when you’re required.”

“Done and done,” I said.

I was happy to help, but even happier not to be in the front lines. This was nice, really, having actual muscle to brute force through the flimsier obstacles. I liked to think of myself as Carver’s secret weapon, someone he could call on to apply some finesse.

“Yeah, better for him to hang back,” Sterling said. “Else he’ll crumple like paper at the first sign of a fight.”

I clenched my jaw and held back my retort. Better finesse than cannon fodder, I thought. Carver finished his muttering, then swept his hand from the crown of his head, downwards. Pale fire suffused his body, parts of him disappearing into thin air as he completed his spell.

“Where the hell is he going? Is he leaving us to do the dirty work?”

A cough came from the air, in the approximate space that Carver’s body had previously occupied.

“I’m still here, Mr. Graves. And I’ll thank you to speak a little more politely of me. I wonder if that’s how you talk about me when I’m not around.”

“Not at all,” I said, stammering at both the admonition, as well as Carver’s sudden invisibility. I’d never seen anyone invisible before. I realize that doesn’t make any damn sense, but you get what I mean. Just roll with it.

“Here goes,” Gil said. “Give me space, guys, just in case I need to go dog.” He bent his knees, preparing to charge. “Okay. On three. One, two – ”

Sterling smashed his fist straight through the door, his lips drawn back in sheer delight. He wrenched the wood apart with fingers so slender that they looked like talons.

“Here’s Johnny,” he crowed, ripping the door off its hinges. Jesus Christ. I knew Sterling was vampire-strong, but I guess I’d never seen him fully fed. This was absolutely terrifying.

“Idiot,” the air beside me muttered, and it shifted as Carver moved into position. Whatever defensive measure he meant to put in place didn’t make it in time. A bolt of electricity slammed fully into Sterling’s chest, and he screamed as he flew off his feet.

“Now it’

s getting interesting,” Gil said, groaning deeply as his fingers flayed in a burst of blood, skin from bone, to make way for his wolf talons. Sterling was already back on his feet, none the worse for wear, slicking his hair back down.

“I made such an effort to look pretty today, too,” he hissed.

He vanished in a streak as he rushed through the open doorway, narrowly dodging another electrical bolt. I heard a crack, then a hideous scream.

“Hey, don’t leave me out of all the fun,” Gil said, charging through to join Sterling on the other side. Where Carver was, I couldn’t say, but I crept far behind them, sticking to the shadows so I could peek into the room.

A man – nearly a boy, honestly – was writhing on the floor, clutching his wrist, which had been bent into an incredibly unpleasant angle. Some feet away from him was a thin rod, about the size of a chopstick, possibly the wand he’d used to attack Sterling. Noted. You know, in case I needed to fry something on short notice. But there were others in the room, two more men, and a third figure dressed all in white.

Wait. White. Was it – could it be? I craned my neck, straining to see. I couldn’t give away that there were four of us. That was the whole point, to afford us an unfair advantage, but I had to see. I could just make out someone who appeared to be dressed differently than the rest.

The other cultists wore civilian clothing: jeans, jackets, hoodies. This person was in something resembling a robe. A white one, close to alabaster, or ivory, a color someone from my past life tended to favor. I couldn’t hear exactly what she was muttering, but I could tell that she was casting a spell.

It was a woman’s voice.

Thea?

Chapter 16

I could have stepped into the room, grabbed the wand, and fried her on the spot. I could have at least shadowstepped in to warn the others. But orders were orders.

The wand that had belonged to the man with the injured wrist flew from the floor straight into the woman’s hand, and she fired another bolt, missing both Sterling and Gil.

She punctuated her incanting with a curse. I strained to listen, but I hated that I couldn’t recognize whether it was Thea’s voice. Had it really been that long since we’d defeated her in the battle at the square?

“Deal with them,” she said, her voice muffled by the clamor of fighting, and the pitiful sounds that the man on the floor – let’s call him Wrist – was making. “Protect the Codex.” I averted my eyes as the room filled with a flash of brilliance. She disappeared.

The woman had teleported away. Gone, like the last time, right out of the clutches of the Lorica, and now, right out of our grasp. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve dreamed of the things I would have done to her in exchange for murdering me, for planting the seed of corruption I still didn’t understand in my heart. I don’t know how many nights I’ve struggled with the guilt of even thinking of doing that, but I’ve never wanted to hurt someone more.