Magic Nights (8 page)

“Blackbrooke?” Sera asked, naming the architect of the Magic Games.

Cora snorted. “No, not Duncan, though I did go out with him once to annoy my parents. He was one of
their
friends.”

“I see where Naomi’s sisters get their mischievous streak.”

“Celeste had it once too.” Cora’s voice scraped out in a rough whisper. “Long ago.”

“What happened?”

“Celeste and I used to hunt monsters.”

“Like Naomi?”

“Yes. Celeste and Naomi are more alike than my sister would care to admit. Her partner was a powerful fairy named Dash. He came from a commune not unlike this one, somewhere in England. His parents didn’t approve of his choice of profession, so he left home and came to San Francisco. And that’s where he met Celeste. They were the best monster-hunting duo on the west coast. They fell in love and had four children: Ash, Naomi, Ivy, and Ruby. They were all happy. For a time.” Cora blinked back unshed tears.

“How did he die?”

“On a job. They went in to clear a nest of vampires during the day, thinking the vampires would be weakened. They didn’t realize that it was not, in fact, a vampire nest. It was a stronghold of demons. Real demons. In their raw form. Not demon-possessed vampires or mages.”

Sera swallowed hard. “I thought there weren’t any demons anymore, that they were all expelled centuries ago.”

“So did we all. Celeste and Dash went into that building expecting vampires. Well, they found vampires. Common vampires. The demons were using them to guard their evil sanctum.”

“Common vampires are not weakened by sunlight,” Sera said.

“With their combined magic, Celeste and Dash managed to fight through them anyway. They still didn’t realize there were demons there. How could they? They weren’t supposed to exist anymore. By the time they found the demons, it was too late. They were trapped. As soon as Dash saw the demons, he opened up a portal and pushed Celeste through. A short-burst portal so that the demons couldn’t follow. Celeste waited for him on the other side, but he never came. The demons must have gotten him. It took Celeste a long time to accept that. I went with her back to that building and looked for the demons, but they were gone. So was Dash. From the looks of the place, he put up a hell of a fight.”

“Did you find a body?”

“No. And that’s why Celeste wouldn’t give up. She searched and searched for him. For years. I took in their children. I wasn’t sure she’d ever come back. But she did, one day many years later. She came into my house, said she was taking her children, and then sailed here. She’d sold everything she and Dash had accumulated in their years as monster hunters and used the money to buy this island. Swearing off her old life, she established this community, a place where supernaturals could live in peace. Where no one had to fight. Where no one had to die. Where families could be complete. She wanted it to be a sanctuary away from the monsters and horrors of the world.”

“That’s why she won’t intervene and help us save those children,” Sera said.

“Yes, she’s afraid to return to her old life. She won’t take a single step in that direction for fear that history will repeat itself. She remembers only the pain, forgetting all those happy years she and Dash had. She’s trying to keep Naomi from that life, but she can’t. It’s in her blood.”

“And in yours?”

“Yes,” Cora agreed. “I gave it up too. For my sister. She needed me.” She gazed across the room at Celeste. “She still does. So I will stay here.” A mischievous grin curled up her lips. “Celeste won’t act, but that doesn’t mean
I
can’t help you. I have a boat waiting for you at the north docks. It’s nothing fancy, but it will be enough to get you and Naomi to Angel Island. Save those children.”

“I will,” Sera promised, clasping Cora’s arms. “And thank you.”

Sera rose from the bench, scouring the crowd for Naomi. She’d only just found her standing at the bar when a fairy stormed into the hall and hopped onto a table. His voice boomed over a lull in the music.

“Ivy and Ruby are missing,” he told the room of curious people who’d turned toward him. His eyes settled on Cora. “They took your boat.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Angel Island

THE MUSIC RIPPED to a halt, and Celeste rose from her seat. She stalked toward Cora, her magic rocking the hall with steadily building tremors. “What boat?”

Fairies and mages folded away from her path, but Cora met her sister’s stare without fear. “I prepared a boat for Naomi and Sera so they could go to Angel Island.”

“You defied me?” Celeste’s nostrils flared up. Her magic exploded in rage.

Cora folded her arms across her chest and said calmly, “Someone had to. Those children are innocents. We cannot abandon them to those pirates.”

“That is not your call.” Celeste stopped in front of her. “And now Ivy and Ruby are gone. My daughters,” she growled in her sister’s face. “The world beyond this island is a dangerous place, full of monsters. Ruby and Ivy are out there. And we don’t even know where they went.”

“I do,” Sera said, standing.

All eyes in the room turned toward her, including Celeste’s. “How?”

“I can sense magic. And track it.”

“A Sniffer?”

Sera nodded, closing her eyes, reaching for the girls’ magic. “They took the boat about…half an hour ago. They headed north.” She opened her eyes. “They went to Angel Island.”

A stream of curses spiraled out of Celeste’s mouth. They didn’t seem to be directed at Sera, though.

“You,” she ground out, glaring at Cora. “This is all your doing.” Her glare shifted to Naomi, her anger simmering hotter. “And you. You’re influencing them. Telling them how much better life is away from this island.”

“Actually, I told them it’s full of monsters,” Naomi said drily, then turned toward Cora. “Do you have another boat we could borrow?”

“Yes, I’ll take you to the docks now.”

“Thanks. We just need to get our weapons.”

Naomi and Cora turned and walked toward the hallway. Sera was about to follow them when Celeste ran past her, cutting them all off.

“Stop!” she shouted. Her voice, deep with magic, echoed across the hall, shaking the walls.

Enflamed Fairy Dust flared up from Naomi’s hands, sparkling like pink fire. “Look, we don’t have time for this. My sisters are headed for an island swarming with criminals, not the least of which are a band of pirates who kidnap hybrid children like them. You can throw up your hands and shout at me all you want
after
I get them back. But for now, get out of my way.”

Celeste didn’t move a muscle. Naomi’s hand lowered to the knife strapped to her thigh. Like Sera, she hadn’t completely disarmed.

“This is crazy.” Cora stepped between them. “Celeste, you can’t just stand by while your daughters are taken. This isn’t like what happened with Dash.”

“How dare you—”

“You think not fighting will keep everyone safe. Fine. Don’t fight. But don’t stop them from acting.” Cora nodded toward Sera and Naomi. “If you don’t let them go—if you try to stop them—Ruby and Ivy could be hurt. Or even die. And then you’d actually have a reason to blame yourself.”

“Sera and I can do this,” Naomi told her mother. “We can bring them back.”

Celeste’s eyes narrowed, but she stepped out of their path. She didn’t say anything as they left the great hall. No one else said anything either. Sera and Naomi hurried down the hallway, grabbed their weapons, then left the building. They followed Cora down the trail lit blue by floating magic flames. When they reached the bottom, Cora pointed to a lone rowboat parked on a patch of white rocks that shimmered under the glow of the full moon.

“Bring them home,” she said, clasping Naomi’s arms. Then she nodded to Sera and followed the trail back up the hill.

“Let’s go,” Naomi said. “We have to catch up to them before the pirates find them. Or something even worse finds them.”

They pressed their hands against the boat, pushing it forward. It scraped against the rocks. As it slid onto the water, they jumped inside. They rowed in unison, their oars mere whispers against the glassy dark surface of the bay. Far ahead of them, Angel Island jutted out from the water, its dark ridges freckled with tiny torches, both magical and mundane.

“So,” Sera said. “What’s going on between you and Cloud?”

It wasn’t an easy feat to shrug while rowing, but Naomi pulled it off just fine. It must have been one of those mysterious fairy powers. “It gets better with every one-night stand.” She threw in a wink for good measure.

Sera gaped at her. “When did you have time for…for that?”

“I am a woman of many talents, Sera.” Her grin grew wider. “And my talents have needs.”

Wasn’t that the truth. “Exactly how many ‘one-night stands’ have you had with him?”

“Three…no, wait four. Maybe more?” Naomi chewed thoughtfully on her lip. “How are we counting this?”

“Is there more than one way to count it?”

“Oh, sweet, innocent Sera.” She grinned. “So many delightful ways. But shouldn’t you already know that? Kai Drachenburg’s magic is off the charts. He is a dragon on the battlefield. He must be one in bed too.”

Sera’s cheeks warmed—and a few other parts too. But there wasn’t time for distracting thoughts right now. She cleared her throat. “Oh look, the shore.”

Naomi chuckled but didn’t say anything more. They were almost there. Sera could see the sandy beach—and the watchtowers. Every faction on the island had one of those stone towers overlooking the patch of shore they’d claimed for themselves. Sera slid her magic through the air, rolling the fog around their boat like a cloak. They rowed up onto the beach that separated the Princes of Twilight’s territory from the one occupied by the Night Terrors, another group of pirates. The two factions’ flags flapped wildly in the spelled wind.

“Look,” Sera whispered, pointing at the boat further down the beach. It was an exact match to theirs. She turned, her eyes following the contours of the hill, peering past the watchtower to the fortress beyond. Dual strands of magic hummed to her, a mix of fairy and mage. “They went that way. It looks like they decided to rescue the kidnapped children themselves.”

“More like get themselves captured.” Naomi looked down at the storm of footprints in the wet sand. She followed two pairs of them to a sandy trail, where they disappeared. She plucked a floral scarf from the bushes. Ruby’s scarf. “Someone got them.” She bent down for a closer look at the footprints. “A lot of someones.”

Sera inhaled deeply, drawing in the magic scents that lingered in the air. “Mages. Those must be our pirates.”

Nodding, Naomi hurried up the trail, unbothered by the steep ascent. Sera followed. There were a few pirates patrolling the area, but they weren’t that hard to avoid. Their magic was distinct, the potent smell of rum oozing from their pores even more so.

There were two pirates standing guard at the front entrance to the fortress—and singing drunken pirate songs, no less—but only one guy stood at the back entrance. They waited until he turned around to pee into the bushes, then they slipped through the open door.

A mage pirate passed them in the halls, his steps heavy with liquor. He didn’t seem to see them—or even the walls. He bumped into them more than once on his way to wherever he was going. Maybe to pee in the bushes too. The whole operation absolutely reeked of professionalism.

“If this is all the Princes of Twilight have got, the rescue will be easy,” Naomi said.

Sera snorted, turning left at a fork in the hall. “I sense a huge concentration of fairy-mage hybrids in the room at the end.”

“My sisters too?”

“Yes.”

The humor faded from Naomi’s eyes. “Let’s get them.”

She broke into a quick jog, soft and soundless. Sera trailed her, just as eager, if not a bit apprehensive. She felt the children, but no pirates anywhere in this part of the building. Where were they all? Some of them should have been guarding the children. Surely not all of them had abandoned their posts to get drunk—or to pee under the moonlight. This whole thing stank of a trap. Sera shook the thought from her head. The pirates couldn’t have known she and Naomi were coming. Well, not unless…

“Naomi, wait.”

But Naomi had already run into the room at the end of the hall. She was fast. Sera followed, reaching for her friend, trying to catch up to her.

It was too late. Bars slammed down behind her. Iron bars. They were trapped.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Princes of Twilight

“THEY KNEW WE were coming,” Sera said. The room they were standing in, which was hardly larger than a pantry, was empty.

“How?” Naomi asked.

“I don’t know. But they knew.”

“Nothing we can do about it now,” Naomi replied, looking past the open doorway, to the larger room connected to this one.

There, children and teens sat on the floor, clustered in small groups. There must have been at least fifty of them, every single one of them a fairy-mage hybrid. The miasma of magic bounced off the iron bars covering the windows and doors, the collective echo ripping through Sera’s mind like a tsunami. Gritting her teeth, Sera pushed against the onslaught until her magic popped and flipped inside out. The waves of magic melted before her, and she let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, look, we caught ourselves some pretty ones.”

Sera turned. Three pirates stood on the other side of the iron bars. Not only were they not drunk, at least one of them was a first tier mage. The other two weren’t underpowered either.

“Finally, something old enough to have real breasts.”

They might not have been underpowered, but they had the manners of a bunch of piranhas.

“I call the fairy,” one said, licking his lips.

“The other one is cute too,” said another, smirking. “Not as perky as her friend, but I’m sure she’ll do just fine.” He turned to Sera. “What do you say, honey? You looking for a good time?”

“What moving words,” Sera said drily. “I find myself unable to resist your charms.”

A smile curled up his lips. “Really?”

“No, you’re an idiot. If you put your hands anywhere near me, I’ll chop them off.”