Magick Marked (The DarqRealm Series) (8 page)

As she approached the bar, John the bartender was hard at work blending cocktails.

“Hey, John?” Rho asked.

John glanced up. “How’d it go with your boys over there?” His hands moved quickly from glasses to ice to bottles.

She ignored the question. “I wanted to let you know I was going to have a little meeting with them somewhere… quiet.”

His hands stopped moving as his concerned stare met hers. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’s the only way to get what I need.”

“So why are you telling me this?”

“I think you know why.” Rho’s eyes narrowed.

Understanding flittered across John’s features as he set the pair of glasses down on the countertop. “Be careful.”

Rho patted the outer pocket of her purse, the outline of her favorite gun beneath the layer of leather. “I always am.”

With a nod, Rho pivoted toward the corner of the bar. The same unfriendly dark-haired female set her drink down on the bar top with a loud clank, her brows pinched in a scowl. What was that girl’s problem? Rho offered her a fake smile before she spun around and headed across the room. Despite turning her back on the woman, Rho could still feel her watchful stare as she walked away.

The two men were waiting for her near a wall covered in thick black fabric.

Pudgy pulled back the curtain and motioned toward the darkened opening. “After you.”

Rho nodded, reaching into her purse as she followed gray-hair into the passage. The instant she stepped into the hallway, the noise from the bar vanished. A small part of her wanted to ask how they’d managed to mute the crowd, but she already knew the answer.

The lanky, older man didn’t bother to turn toward her as he spoke. “You certainly have some courage, walking through a darkened hallway with men like us.”

“I guess I’m supposed to say thank you.” She wasn’t sure if he was calling her courageous or stupid. Frankly, she thought she was being a little of both.

One of the men trailing behind her snorted. “Most vampires wouldn’t want to be seen consorting with one of our kind.”

“And why is that?” Rho stared straight ahead, trying to blink her vision into focus. Vamps could easily see at night, but she’d swear the passageway was getting darker by the step.

The man behind her chuckled. “Because everyone knows. You can never trust the fae.”

Darkness consumed her vision and she froze in place—or at least she thought she did. Her skin tingled as every limb lost sensation. Sound and sight evaded her as her senses blanked out, making her blind and deaf.

“Stop!” Rho tried to shout, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Paralyzing fear radiated through her body, every reservation she’d had about these men flooding her mind at once. Screaming into the darkness and not knowing if she was making a sound, she cursed herself for being stupid enough to go in without backup. She was going to die tonight.

“Relax, little vampire,” a man’s voice coaxed as she struggled to break free of his grasp. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Damn if she didn’t know that was a lie.

A round table sat in the center, surrounded by three chairs. Two of them were occupied.

“Is that better?” The thin, lanky fae man asked from his seat on the far side of the table. Pudgy sat to his left. He extended a hand. “Please, take a seat.”

Right. Like he could throw magick at her and then invite her to a dinner party. “I think I’ll stand, thanks.”

“Sit down,” Pudgy growled, a green spark flashing at his fingertips. He didn’t seem to speak much compared to his leaner counterpart, but his demeanor seemed far more hostile.

Rho narrowed her eyes before stepping toward the one empty chair at the table. No use pissing off the men who wielded the magick. The only way she’d get any answers to her questions was if she played nicely. She lowered herself slowly into the seat, set her purse in her lap then crossed one leg over the other. “Mind telling me why you felt you needed to blind me with magick?”

“Sorry about that.” Lanky shrugged a shoulder. “It was for our own protection.”

She arched a brow. Talk about paranoid. “Did I threaten you?”

Lanky set a gun on the center of the table.
Her
gun. The one that was supposed to be in her purse. Unease crawled up her spine as she eyed her favorite hand piece.

“Actually, yes.” He leaned back in his chair. “Do you usually stow a firearm in your bag when you need someone’s help?”

First these men had their magick, and now they had her only weapon? A quick glance around the room told her this had to be some sort of magickal holding cell. There was no door or window in sight, which left zero options for exiting the room. This was going from bad to worse.

She snorted and tried to play off the mounting discomfort. “I always carry. Doesn’t matter if it’s in my house or in a bar. That,” she pointed to the gun, “is always on me.” She reached her hand across the table, but the tall gentleman got there first.

He slid the gun toward himself, but left it on the table. “Not so fast. You can have this back when we’re done with our conversation.” He slid his fingers along the barrel. “Until then, it stays right here.”

Damn. Hopefully she wouldn’t need it. “Fine. As long as you help me.”

“Deal.” The man smiled and offered a short nod. “Now, explain to me why a vampire would come into a bar, seeking the assistance of two fae men she doesn’t know, regarding magick she knows nothing about?”

Rho willed herself to remain calm. Maybe she was overreacting. Aside from a little impairment, they hadn’t physically hurt her yet. They could have truly feared for their safety. She was a vampire, after all.

She smiled back at him, resolving to keep her emotions in check. “You’ve answered your own question, haven’t you?”

He tilted his head.

“I know nothing about old magick,” she continued. “That’s why I sought you out.”

“Why us?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Referral from a friend.”

“Who?”

“Sorry.” She shook her head. “My sources are anonymous.”

Pudgy gave Lanky a sidelong glance.

Lanky rapped his fingers against the table. “Tell me, vampire. Why do you need to know about old magick?”

Rho leaned forward, resting one arm on the table and the other on her purse. Now or never. “Why would someone protect something with old magick? What’s so special about it?”

“That’s all you want to know? That’s easy.” Lanky shrugged a shoulder. “It’s stronger than new magick. Spells become stronger with age.”

“All spells?”

“Not all, but most. I’d have to know what spell you’re speaking of to know for certain,” lanky answered.

Crap. She really didn’t want to give him any more details than she had to, but she couldn’t exactly expect him to help her without at least a little information. “It was a protection spell. A friend of mine—a magick mover—performed a spell for me to help protect some… family assets. Someone broke in and stole them, and I’m trying to figure out how that’s possible.”

“And you assume the vandal used old magick?”

“You tell me.” Of course she suspected it, but she had no way of knowing. Her knowledge of magick spells was limited, at best.

“What type of protection spells did your friend use?” lanky asked.

“Strong ones.”

“Which ones, specifically?”

No way could she tell him that. As far as she knew, the pool of Dwellers with the ability to pull those spells off was tiny. Any hints would give away her resource immediately, and she couldn’t put Eldon in that position. “That’s irrelevant. I just need to know whether or not old magick can break strong protection spells.”

Lanky leaned forward in his seat, his gaze traveling over Rho as if scrutinizing every detail of her expression. She tried to relax her features and offered up the best poker face she could summon.

“You know,” he started, a menacing grin crossing his face. “I heard a rumor recently about some special objects going missing. You wouldn’t happen to be speaking about the very same thing, would you?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.
The Kamens. How did he know about the Kamens? She shook her head. “I’m talking about something stolen from my family.”

“Are you sure?” His brow lifted in interest. “You weren’t protecting an ancient relic that’s recently disappeared?”

“Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” They were on to her. She needed to get out of this place immediately. She rose from her chair and swung her purse over her shoulder. “I think I’ve gotten all the information I need from you, gentlemen. Thank you for all your help, but I really need to get going.”

Lanky barked a laugh. “You’re not going anywhere, vampire.”

“You can’t keep me here.” Her gun was still positioned on the center of the table, teasing her with its proximity but still too far away to do her any good. Why didn’t she bring her backup gun? And why did she change into these stupid high heels? She couldn’t stash knives in shoes like these.

“To the contrary. I’ll keep you here as long as I like.” Lanky rose to stand on the opposite side of the table. “Now tell me where the relic was hidden.”

“My family’s business doesn’t concern you.”

“But your family’s possessions do.” He circled the table, each step bringing him closer to her. “What line are you from? Who is your maker?”

No way was she bringing Frederick into this. Knowing that she held a position of power could only lead to bigger problems. “Let me go.” Gun or no gun, she needed to get the hell out of here. Now.

“Who is your maker?”

She took a step back. “Bite me.”

Lanky lunged forward, landing on Rho and knocking her backwards. His knees landed against her shoulders and he pinned her to the ground. She twisted to throw him off, but failed to move an inch. Vibrations of electrical energy pulsed through her body where they touched, freezing her in place.

“Give me your necklace!” He shouted to the chubby man, who was still sitting in his chair.

The round man sprang up and rushed to his companion’s side, silver chain in hand.

Oh, no.
Silver.

Rho struggled and squirmed, but no amount of exertion freed her from his hold. Nothing hurt a vampire worse than silver, and she’d experienced it firsthand—more than once.

“Tell me who your maker is, and I’ll make this easy on you,” Lanky growled.

“Why do you care?” Rho grunted beneath him, pissed at her body for not responding to her commands.

“Because I know someone who would pay a pretty penny for some intel on that relic, and you’re going to give it to me.”

Yeah, that would happen right about
never
. “Fuck you.” Who the hell wanted intel on the Kamens? Were they fae?

Lanky suspended a silver pentagram only an inch from her face, dangling it from the chain in his hand. “Even better—maybe you know where the Kamen disappeared to. Oh, yes, they’ll pay well for knowledge like that. Or did you take it and hide it somewhere?”

She turned her face away, as if somehow that could improve the distance between her and the silver. “Why would I hide it? I’m trying to
find
it, dumbass.”

He dropped the chain and it grazed her skin, setting her cheek on fire. Unable to hold back, she screamed as the metal burned her flesh.

He lifted it away. “Tell me where you hid it!”

“I didn’t hide it!”

The fireball of pain exploded, engulfing her face in flames. She screamed again, pushing her face further into the concrete floor. There was no way to move her body away from the source of the anguish, but she tried anyway.

“Unhand her immediately,” a voice boomed from the doorway. Rho opened her eyes and glanced toward the voice, only to find the very last person she’d expected to see there.

“Frederick?” She blinked at him, both embarrassed at her position and relieved to see his face. The fae men didn’t move, just hovered in place as if they’d been frozen there.

The prince kept his stare locked on the fae men. Four figures entered the small room, flanking either side of the prince and blocking the doorway she’d been unable to see moments ago. She recognized a couple of the men right away as members of the Guard.

“That vampire child belongs to me.” Frederick pointed down at her. “You will unhand her at once.”

Lanky sprang to his feet and held his hands up in defeat. “We were only trying to help her.”

Pudgy rolled to his side and pulled himself up gracelessly then nodded in agreement.

“Yes, you certainly looked like you were helping.” Frederick folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “Ed?”

A middle-aged man in a business suit stepped forward and pointed a thumb to the doorway. “You’re out of here gentlemen, both of you. Permanently.”

Lanky gaped. “But Ed! We’ve been coming here for—”

“I don’t care how long you’ve been coming here. You know the rules.” Ed shook his head. “You practiced magick in a human-occupied establishment, without provocation. I can’t let this one go.”

“But—”