Heart of the Thief Page 2

  “You’re not gonna get away from us this time,” Rattigan called out, “You hear me?”

  “Gonna have to catch me, first!” I yelled back, smiling as I took to the stairs two at a time. I made it down to the next landing when the final member of the Mystic Trio jumped out at me, his hands spread wide, his eyes wider still.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Randy asked, his lips spreading to reveal a gold-plated smile.

  “Look at you, waiting for me,” I said, clapping my hands, “You guys put a little foresight into this one. Bravo.”

  Randy scowled, wound back his arm, and hurled a bolt of red light at me.

  As the bolt of light approached, I could feel its beating heart, its intent—what it was meant to do to me. It was meant to set me on fire. Randy wasn’t playing around. He wasn’t trying to stun me; he wasn’t trying to get one over on me. He wanted to outright murder me. That, I hadn’t been expecting.

  Choosing to avoid being turned into a human barbecue, I drew my left hand up and smacked his spell aside before it could hit me, redirecting its energy into a nearby wall. The magic had been strong enough to take a bite out of the wooden paneling, the explosion sending pieces of it flying out in all directions.

  My right hand snapped at him in return, the spell manifesting in my mind an instant before it shot out of my fingertips. A streak of purple light hissed toward him. He tried to parry the spell the same way I had, but he wasn’t fast enough. The spell struck him in the shoulder and sent him flying into the wall behind him. By the time he hit the ground, he was already convulsing as the electrifying effects of my stunning spell took hold of his body.

  I shrugged. “You just tried to kill me,” I said, arching over him. “Maybe next time you’ll show better manners than that.”

  Hopping past him, I rushed down the next flight of stairs, following the corridors all the way to the foyer… and freedom. I couldn’t get out of this house fast enough. Between the Mystic Trio and the Demons, it was all starting to be a little much. All I had to do now was turn the next corner and get to—the burned doll was sitting in front of the door, blocking my way out.

  The moonlight filtering in through the tiny windows above the door illuminated the top of her head, her burned hair. I could see her charred face, but only a little. And right at the center of that face were her eyes; strangely human, and amber in color, with a kind of brightness that seemed to come from within.

  I froze at the sight of her, my whole body seizing up like I’d just hit an invisible wall. I could hear my heart beating frantically against my temples. I could feel it in my throat, pumping away at a runaway pace. At any moment I thought it would climb up into my mouth and fall out of my body before taking off in the other direction.

  I swallowed hard. I wasn’t about to let some dumb doll keep me from getting out of this place, so I took a step forward. That’s when I met the real invisible wall. Something powerful struck me against the chest and sent me hurtling into another wall. The picture frame I’d slammed into smashed and fell to the floor, but I stayed pinned up against the wall.

  I tried to fight it, but the pressure this thing was putting out was immense. Strange, incoherent whispers began to flood directly into my mind. It wasn’t just the pressure that was a problem anymore, but the static noise filling my head, and the heat that thing was putting off. Beads of sweat were starting to pop all across my forehead and neck.

  I shouldn’t have touched the damn cabinet, I thought. But I wasn’t about to let this thing beat me. The Demon possessing that doll didn’t know it was messing with an Elemancer who also knew a thing or two about pressure.

  Gritting my teeth from the effort, I managed to turn my right palm away from me. In my mind, I imagined my own wall of force bursting out of my chest, freeing me from this thing’s grip. My whole body vibrated as magic worked through me, power summoned from the Tempest itself—the place where all magic comes from.

  I groaned from the effort. The wall at my back started to crack as I fought against the doll’s infernal magic. That crack ran all the way into the ceiling and floor, stretching across the room all the way to where the doll was sitting. Finally, my power won out, and a powerful explosion burst out of me.

  The chandelier hanging over us exploded. A sofa and a table took flight and smashed into a far wall. Windows shattered, and electrical fixtures shorted out leaving the scent of melted rubber in the air. The doll stared at me, and I stared back. Yeah, all subtlety was definitely gone.

  “Happy now?” I asked as I fought to get to my feet, gasping for breath.

  Again, I felt the doll’s power race toward me, but this time I was ready. I threw my hand up, projecting my own invisible wall and keeping its power away from me.

  “See that door?” I said to the doll. “I’m gonna walk out that door, now, and you’re gonna let me. Your master’s gonna be pissed enough that you let this happen on your watch. Then he’s gonna take you out of that doll and bind you to a dildo or something. Do you want that? Do you want to be a dildo?”

  The doll’s power intensified, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. It had caught me by surprise the first time, that was all. Motes of purple light danced around my left hand—my shield hand—as my own magic protected me. I could almost feel that thing’s hatred toward me. It was a vicious kind of malice I’d never felt before.

  “Who keeps a psycho Demon doll locked in their house, anyway?” I asked. When I’d had enough, I brought more power surging into the world, enough to turn the invisible pressure wall on the doll.

  When the wall struck the doll, the doll only toppled onto its back like it was made of lead, but the door to the outside opened for me. Carefully I walked around the doll and made it to the door just in time to catch Rattigan, Dolf, and Randy enter the smashed-up room I’d just left.

  I waved at them from the other side of the door.

  “Good luck with the doll, guys,” I said.

  “Doll?” Rattigan asked, “What doll?”

  The front door to the house slammed shut. Already I could hear screams coming from inside, but I decided not to stick around and watch. I’d taken what I came for, and with any luck the Mystic Trio would take the blame for it.

  Now it was time to collect.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I was being followed.

  The night sky lit up in shades of purple as lightning ripped through it. Distantly, New York City’s skyscrapers revealed themselves as warped shadows behind the thick, mist-like clouds coiling around them. Thunder rolled high above loud enough to make my chest vibrate. I picked up the pace, pretending I hadn’t noticed the black birds perched along the power lines running between buildings.

  There weren’t people following me, but crows. The first time I’d noticed them had been about thirty minutes ago. They’d appeared on a quiet street and had stuck with me all the way to the train platform. Now here they were again, the same two birds. The only crows I’d seen in a while.

  They shadowed me, fluttering from line to line above my head. It was tough to hear the sound of their wings above the rain, but they weren’t exactly being subtle. That’s how I knew they meant business. Any second, now, they were going to make their move; but right now, I had the advantage of looking oblivious.

  I decided to use it.

  As soon as the next corner came up, I took it. I slid into the alley between buildings like a whisper, soundless and swiftly, for all the good that would do me. The air reeked of animal, human, and garbage, a trio of scents that was impossible to ignore as I pushed through. Still, I kept my head low and my pace quick, slipping past the dumpsters and the people the world had forgotten as fast as I could.

  It wasn’t long before the crows were on me again, gliding through the air. They clearly weren’t real crows. They were probably Vivimancers that had assumed their form to try and blend in with the night. I had no idea who they were or why they were after me, but it became pretty apparent they weren’t about to let
me slip away.

  I pushed deeper into the alley, running now, startling a cat that had been sitting in a dumpster and sending it scrambling into the darkness. Already the streetlamps were having trouble reaching me this far into the alley, and it was only going to get worse.

  I spotted a metal door a few feet ahead and went for it. It was so badly covered in graffiti, it almost blended into the wall, but there was light enough for me to catch sight of the handle jutting out of it. I reached the handle and tried to turn it, but the thing wouldn’t budge.

  “Crap,” I muttered under my breath. I took a step back, aimed my fingers at it, and sent a trickle of magic into it. I heard a click, and it croaked open an inch or two. Just as I went to reach for the handle, a blast of green whooshed past my ear and struck the metal door. I jumped back, shielding my eyes, my heart lurching into my throat. Tresses of eerie green smoke floated up from a scorch mark where the spell had hit.

  I spun around and stretched my hand out toward the woman standing in the alley. She was wearing all black, slender, with a snakelike face and eyes so sharp she could cut you with them just by staring at you. The dagger she held in her right hand gleamed against the dimness. Her other hand was covered in ornate rings, and more of that green smoke.

  But that was only one crow… where was the other one?

  “My dear Isabella,” she said, her voice something between pity and contempt. “Finally, we get to meet.”

  “Who are you, and why are you following me?”

  “Ooh, great questions,” she sneered, “But I’m not here to answer your questions. I’m here to bring you in.”

  “Wow, that Demonologist caught onto my trail pretty quick. I thought I at least had a day or two before he sent his bullshit goons after me.”

  The woman in black scowled, her eyes tightening. “I’m going to offer you this chance once. Come quietly, or I’ll drag you kicking and screaming. But first I’ll hurt you, and I’ll enjoy it.”

  “I don’t know who you are, what you want, or who you work for. I think you and I both know I’m not gonna just go with you.”

  Thunder struck again in the silence that followed, filling the night air with sound, and light, and one hell of a static charge. The rain was starting to pummel the streets, now. In another couple of seconds, I’d be soaked. That normally wouldn’t have bothered me too much, but have you ever tried to run in soaking wet clothes?

  Her scowl transformed into a grin, her black lips spreading hungrily. “Have it your way,” she said. With a grunt, her hand snapped out at me like a cobra, and a bolt of green light came streaking through the air.

  I grabbed my knife with one hand and slammed her magic aside with the other, making sparks fly in all directions. The spell itself smashed into a dumpster, where it left another burning scorch mark. The smell of charred metal bloomed in the air. Before I could throw a counterattack of my own, another one of her spells was on its way to me.

  I parried that spell, too, this time sending its energy smashing into a brick wall and shattering the brick in the process. I was about to launch a counterattack, but she kept coming for me, relentless, taking a step closer with every lash of her hand. I couldn’t attack, not while I was focused on defending myself. I could only step back and defend, step back and defend.

  The one comfort I had was the knowledge that she wasn’t outright trying to kill me. Her spells were meant to make my muscles seize up and paralyze me. That was something, at least.

  “Just keep fucking still and let me hit you, already!” she yelled, before breaking for an instant to catch her breath.

  That pause, that instant of respite, was my chance. I had two options; go for the door again and rush into the building, or attack her? Attack was probably my best bet, though I still didn’t know where the other crow was, and that was making me nervous.

  I formed the spell in my mind and watched it manifest in my hand half a heartbeat later. The woman’s mad eyes widened, almost in slow motion. I lashed out at her with the tip of my dagger, a bolt of purple light shooting from my fingertips and hurtling toward her. She put her shield hand up to parry the spell away… and she succeeded.

  Whoever this was, she was a talented witch who’d clearly battled many others before. I wasn’t a stranger to battling mages, but my skillset was a lot more focused toward not getting caught than having to fend attackers off.

  My sixth sense tingled, the back of my neck prickling all over. The other crow was behind me. I spun around, my dagger in hand, aiming for where I thought a throat would be. The crow managed to grab my arm in midair and swing me around, sending me crashing into the side of a dumpster.

  He was huge, easily six foot, and built like a bulldog-human hybrid. Whoever he was, he was all veins and muscles, and some scars, to boot. Like the woman he was also wearing all black, but he was unarmed and he wasn’t wearing any jewelry that I could see.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” I groaned, pushing myself off the dumpster and walking closer to the brute. “Your mama ever teach you not to hit girls?”

  “I don’t hit little girl,” he said, his Eastern European accent thick on his tongue, “Dumpster hit girl.”

  I cracked my neck. “I guess you’re right, but I’m about to hit you, so I guess you have permission, now.”

  The tough guy sauntered over to me, wound back his arm, and went to throw his fist into my face. I ducked under the blow, spun around him, and drew my dagger across his side, drawing blood. Groaning, he furiously turned around to try and back-hand me, but I was too quick for him and I was easily able to keep away from his fist.

  The nape of my neck prickled again, and instead of turning to try and deflect the woman’s magic as it hurtled toward me, I arched my back and flipped into the air. The spell sailed under me and went streaking across the alley, but I could feel its heat as it skirted under my back. That was too close.

  After landing, I formed another stunning spell and fired it off at the big guy. The magic hit him in the shoulder, but he didn’t go all the way down. He fell to one knee, using his hand to stop himself from falling any further. Then, after a beat, he turned his eyes up at me. He was grinning.

  “Is that all… little girl… has?” he growled.

  “Well, that’s a first even for me,” I said, staring at him incredulously. There wasn’t a single person I knew who could take a solid blast of magic like that without going down. Was this guy made of iron?

  I fired another spell off at him. This time he parried it as he fought to get to his feet, the spell’s energy sailing into the night sky where it mingled with the lightning churning in the clouds. “You are weakling,” he said.

  I’ll show you a weakling.

  I went on the offensive, hammering him with spell after spell, advancing on him with each shot. Streaks of purple light zipped from the tip of my dagger every time I whipped it at him. Some of my spells he was able to deflect, while others struck him in the shoulder, in the chest. It was my third hit that finally turned him into a convulsing mess, but the effort had left me panting, my body buzzing.

  Lightning split the sky as I loomed over the much larger man. “Call me little girl one more time,” I snarled, my blue hair plastered to my face from all the rainfall. “I dare you.”

  “That’s enough of that,” came a soft voice whispered almost directly into my ear. A warm hand wrapped around my mouth, while another grabbed hold of my knife. “You’ve proved your point with him, but now it’s time to come with us.”

  This wasn’t the woman—it was another man, one I hadn’t seen yet. His scent completely enveloped me; a warm, musky aroma that warmed my chest. I tried to turn my head to look at him, but I could only see the woman staring at me from across the alley. She cocked her head to the side, and her black lips parted into a wide smile. She was soaked, her hair a stringy black mess, but she didn’t seem to care.

  “Looks like we’re doing things the hard way,” she said, aiming the tip of her knife at me. Green light
radiated from her hand as she charged up a spell. I wanted to use magic, but I was exhausted from all the energy I’d put into downing the big guy. I needed a minute to catch my breath before I could be useful again.

  “No,” the man holding me said, keeping his voice low and cool. “This one is mine. You go.”

  “Let me make her tongue fall out?” she pleaded, “She’s got a smart mouth, this one.”

  “Don’t make me order you twice, Delia.”

  “What about Karkov? You can’t just leave him here.”

  “He was defeated in combat. He can drag himself back when he wakes up.”

  Frowning like a child that hadn’t gotten her way, she raised her right hand to the sky, lifted her chin up, and in burst of green light and feathers she transformed into a crow. The crow fluttered on the spot for a moment before taking flight and becoming one with the night.

  The man at my back moved his hand away from my lips. “Are you ready to come with me?” he asked.

  “That depends,” I said, “You gonna turn us both into crows too? Because I’m not into that.”

  His hand slid from my jaw and moved it to the nape of my neck. There, he wrapped a fist around my hair and tugged it back hard, making me suck in a breath through my teeth. “No,” he said, turning my head to the other side of the alley where a black car had just pulled up. “We drive, and you won’t put up a fight. Understood?”

  I nodded, because more than any of the other mages I’d encountered tonight, I felt like this one was ready to kill me if I tried anything… stupid.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  I had no idea where I was being taken, or who I was even with, but I knew I needed to be smart. Someone had been waiting by the car to throw a bag over my head and tie my hands behind my back before I was pushed inside. After that, no one had said a word to me, and I’d had the common sense to keep my mouth shut while I tried to figure a way out.