The Age of Mages: Book I of the Mage Tales (25 page)

“Well, we’ve only just met, haven’t we?” I said. “You’ve hardly seen me at my best.” I flexed my fingers, the air around them crackling with magic, which I made sure the vampires saw.

“Whoa there!” The leader held up his hands. “I only meant I thought you’d look different. You know—have a tail or horns or something.”

I furrowed my brow. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, how else could a vampire sire a child, unless he made some pact with the devil?” The leader grinned at me.

“You’re the only devils here that I can see,” Arthur spoke up, adjusting his crossbow.

Now the group was well and truly laughing, with the lead vampire practically doubled over. “Strong words from someone about to become a snack,” he said. “And an old, wrinkled snack at that.”

“He does look like a raisin, doesn’t he?” one of the females said, running her fingers through her long hair. “Perhaps we should keep him. We need someone to tidy up around here.”

“It is looking a bit messy, isn’t it?” The leader glanced around at the piles of bones strewn everywhere.

“You may kill me, but you’ll never enslave me,” Arthur vowed.

“Why not?” the leader asked. “We managed to kidnap what’s-her-name and make her sleep for decades, didn’t we?”

“My name is
Abigail
,” said my mother, stepping forward. My father put his hand on her arm, as if to stay her.

“And I am Tarik,” the leader said. He bent forward slightly, put his arm across his waist, and tipped an imaginary hat. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Lovely to meet you as well, Tarik,” I said. “Tell me, is there a burning, fiery hell around here I can send you to? Preferably quickly?”

“All in good time, my friend,” he replied, still smiling. I recalled what Titus and I had done to the vampire in the alley who wouldn’t stop smirking, and hoped we’d get the chance to do it again.

“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you,” Titus said. “Just because you managed to work one spell doesn’t mean you’re a match for us.”

“Yes, how did you do that?” I asked. Maybe I could stall for time while Titus or I thought of a plan.

Tarik shrugged. “It was easy. I’m surprised a superpowerful mage like you doesn’t know.” Again, more snickers.
Will these blasted vampires never stop laughing?
“It was simply a smaller version of the curse used to subdue our master.”

“And where would vampires of your . . .
distinction
acquire such a spell?” Titus asked.

Tarik grinned at my father. “Oh, there was a witch or two. There are always witches willing to turn on each other if the price is right.”

“Then there should be a special place in hell for them as well,” muttered Abigail.

“Yes, and for that price,” continued Tarik, “they threw in a cloaking spell so no one could find her. Not to mention removing the protections she had on the house so we could extract her in the first place.”

“Who did this?” I demanded. “Who helped you kidnap my mother?” I took a step forward, but Titus caught me by the shoulder.

“What difference does it make to you?” asked Tarik.

“They’re dead anyway,” another of the female vampires said, and waved her hand. “You don’t really think we’d let them live, do you? Not when they could give away all our secrets.”

“Yes—I thought you’d be smarter than that,” Tarik said to me. “You disappoint me, mage.” He walked down the other end of the cave, still trailing his finger along the side. Now his nail was making a horrid screeching sound. My parents and I winced, and Arthur covered his ears.

“My name is Joshua, you sadistic malcontent,” I said.

“As you wish,” he shrugged, letting his finger drop. “Your name is of little consequence. Though I can see you’re just as stubborn and irritating as your mother. She wouldn’t tell us where our crystal was—”

“
Your
crystal?” interrupted Arthur.

“—but we thought, surely if she won’t cooperate with us, she’ll be more than happy to do so for our master. Callix could be very . . .
persuasive
in his day.” Tarik stopped walking long enough to glance at all of us and grin again. “Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly when he will arise, so we had to hold onto her for safekeeping. I’m sure you understand. However, now that we have her husband and son here, perhaps she’ll be in a more talkative mood.”

“You touch one hair on their heads, and I’ll fry you where you stand, you little bastards!” Abigail shouted.

“Yes, about Joshua and me.” Titus stepped forward, almost in front of Abigail. “You don’t seem particularly put out that we’ve discovered your little hiding spot.”

“Ah, but as a military strategist, you should appreciate this.” Tarik waggled his finger. “When we saw you enter, we knew the jig was up. But I also saw how this could be used to our advantage. Surely if Ms. Abigail here has no knowledge of the crystal—which I doubt—then you two must.”

“Why do you want the crystal anyway?” Arthur asked, lowering his crossbow a bit. I knew it was heavy, and that he must be tiring. Still, I wasn’t sure that was the wisest move; these vampires could attack at any moment.

“Well, that’s rather our business, isn’t it?” Tarik stretched his arms and clasped his hands behind his head. Clearly, he was enjoying this little encounter.

“Your friend we killed in the alley seemed all too willing to impart the information,” remarked Titus.

“Friend?” Another vampire—male—furrowed his brow. “Oh—you mean Cedric,” he realized. “Yes, we heard about that. What an ass!” The rest of the vampires murmured their assent.

“Guess they weren’t as friendly with Cedric as we thought,” I whispered to Titus.

My father was stone-faced as he continued addressing the group. “Cedric thought the crystal would allow him to complete some task in relation to Ferox. He seemed convinced it made no difference in resurrecting him, so it must be something else.”

Tarik put his thumbs in his belt loops. “Cedric believed a lot of things,” he said. “For instance, he also believed he was the last of us. But there were a few—the wiser ones—who lay in wait while those more reckless and inexperienced let themselves get killed. And like I said, the crystal’s relationship to us—to
Ferox
—is our business, not yours.”

“Unbelievable,” Arthur murmured. “There actually is an ancient vampire slumbering beneath Rome.”

“Of course there is, you withered old coot!” snapped Tarik. “Though he shan’t slumber for long. Not long now at all.” He rubbed his hands together while the other vampires whispered excitedly among themselves.

“How do you know?” I asked, trying not to let apprehension show in my voice. “You said you weren’t exactly sure when he’d arise, though I can’t see why he’d arise at all. And where is he, anyway?” I began looking around me, as if the fiend might start seeping out of the walls. Titus’s eyes began moving slowly to the left and right as well, while Abigail and Arthur just looked at each other.

“We don’t need to
see
him, you fool,” Tarik sneered. “We can
feel
his presence.”

Now it was my turn to snicker. Vampires may be able to feel the blood of their kind, the way my father could with Ferox, and the way I could feel magic all around me. But this went beyond that. I shook my head and looked at Tarik.

“You’re the ones serving a master you’ve never seen,” I said. “Why don’t you tell
me
who’s the fool?”

For the first time, Tarik stopped smiling. “Some of us still know how to follow a leader with absolute and unwavering devotion.”

My eyes flickered over to my father. He valued unwavering devotion. But he simply stared at the other vampire and said nothing.

“Please,” I replied. “Enough with the mindless minion act. You’re a caricature. You’re a
caricature
of a caricature.”

“You’re one to talk.” Tarik took his thumbs out of his belt buckle, and several other vampires moved closer to him. “Most of you claim to know magic, but none of you were even aware that the curse placed on Callix is weakening. It has been weakening for
years
! He could rise at any moment!”

“That’s ridiculous,” I snapped. But my eyes automatically scanned the cavern again, just to be sure. I noticed my family and Arthur doing the same. “The High Council would have known about it and stopped it.”

“The High Council?” Tarik scoffed. “Those old snobs wouldn’t know their arse from a hole in the ground. They figured the witches who cursed Callix made a spell that lasted forever. But they were wrong.”

Well, that
is
troubling
. But I couldn’t afford to worry about it now. The more immediate issue was the vampires in front of us. Arthur and my family had to get out of here in one piece. Hopefully, Ferox would stay where he was at least a little while longer.

“Fine. They were wrong,” I said. “But that’s no excuse for kidnapping and murdering on behalf of an authority figure you’ve never seen. Don’t get me wrong—I’d love to be part of your little vampiric Milgram experiment, but I’ve got better things to do. You managed to trap us, so good on you. But if you’re looking for the crystal, I’m afraid we know as little about it as you do.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Tarik.

“Believe what you like; it’s the truth,” I said. “Even if we did know, why would we tell you? You killed one or more witches after you got the spells you wanted. You’d certainly do away with us once the crystal was in your possession. And I really don’t have time for an epic,
Lord of the Rings
battle right now.”

A slow, frightening smile spread over Tarik’s face. “There are four of you and ten of us. I’m pretty sure any battle that happens here won’t come close to ‘epic.’ ”

Damn; he’s right
. Even combining all our powers and skills, it would be difficult to fight so many opponents at once.

“The three of you really must be fools to walk into certain death like this,” one of the female vampires said, jutting her chin at my father, Arthur, and me. All the others started stretching their arms and rolling up their sleeves.

“Yes, that’s the problem with death, isn’t it?” I said in an attempt at nonchalance. “It’s almost always fatal.” Titus gave me a look, and I heard his thoughts loud and clear.
Shut up, you fool!
Don’t provoke them.

Little late for that, isn’t it?
I retorted.

“Well, it probably won’t be all for naught, anyway,” said a male vampire. It was hard to tell them apart; they all looked alike. But this one had a British accent. “Mummy dearest there is a bit of all right.” He looked at Abigail and nodded approvingly. “Now that she’s awake, maybe she’ll be good enough to give us all a ride, eh?”

Arthur gave a cry of outrage, and I clenched my teeth so hard, I swore they’d crack. Titus balled his hands into fists until they turned paler than usual. Abigail just stepped up and put her hand on her hip.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll give you,” she said. “How about a running start?” The male vampire laughed.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Abigail raised her palm over the ground we stood on. Magic encircled her hand, and a chunk of stone wrenched itself out of the earth and rose to her fingers. She pulled her arm back and threw it at the vampire.

Earth was Abigail’s element, so the stone yielded to her much easier than it had for me. And it was more than just a hunk of rock by the time it hit the vampire. She’d turned it into a razor-sharp spear that pinned him to the opposite wall—right in his crotch.

Blood spurted from between the vampire’s legs as he screamed and screamed, futilely clutching the offending area. Several of the other vampires stared on in horror.

I grinned.
Way to go, Mom!

Abigail “grabbed” another piece of stone from the ground below us—a bigger one this time. She pulled her arm back again, and crying “A-
ya
!” with the effort, speared the vampire in the throat. The spear was so big, it resembled one of the smaller stalagmites on the ground below us. It was large enough to nearly decapitate the vampire when it hit him. He stopped screaming, and half his head lolled around his shoulders, his eyes wide and unseeing. Gasps and cries followed.

“She killed Rickman!”

“That evil
bitch
!”

“Tarik, are you going to let her get away with that?”

I folded my arms and smiled. “Looks like there are only nine of you now,” I said to Tarik.

Tarik was staring, openmouthed, at the nearly headless Rickman. But when he heard my voice, he slowly turned his head to me, murder in his eyes. He snapped his finger and pointed at us, and almost instantly, every vampire flew to the rock where we stood. We were surrounded.

Titus put his fists up, and Arthur pointed his crossbow at one vampire, then another. Tarik stood directly in front of Abigail, looking down at her. She stared back, her chin raised defiantly.

“Playtime’s over,” he said. “Give us the crystal.”

“It’s like I told you before—I don’t have it.” Her eyes inadvertently darted to me, her chest rising and falling quickly. I could tell that despite appearances, she was trying hard to remain calm.