The Mage in Black (7 page)

But now that I was here and had my first taste of mage life, I wasn’t so sure I’d made the right decision. Maisie was nice enough, but I couldn’t help distancing myself from her. I’d thought since we were twins we’d be more alike, but the reality was we couldn’t be more different. Hell, even my minion liked her better than he liked me. Stupid fickle demon.

Plus, Adam’s departure had thrown me for a loop. I’d expected him to stay and help me adjust to mage life, but now he was gone. It wasn’t just that he wouldn’t be continuing our magic lessons. I’d grown used to having him around over the last few weeks. I’d even started to think of us as a team. Not that I’d admit that out loud. Nor did I want to discuss that kiss. Gods! What the hell was that about? I guessed in that respect it was good he was gone. It gave me some space to clear my head. But eventually, when he returned, I’d have to figure out what to do there. I had a feeling where Adam was concerned, things could get very complicated very quickly. And more complications were the last thing I needed.

I’m not sure how long I sat there before the twig snapped behind me. Another. Someone or something wasn’t worried about me knowing they were there. I stood slowly and started walking. They’d reveal themselves when they were ready—and I’d be ready for them.

“You picked the wrong woods tonight, Little Red Riding Hood.” The voice came from behind.

I turned slowly, silently cursing myself for not bringing more weapons with me. Two males stood on the path. From the corner of my eye, I saw two others come from the tree line to stand behind me. Four-to-one odds. Not too bad, I thought.

“Can I help you?” I asked, keeping my tone conversational. Inside, my adrenaline kicked up a notch. A good fight would offer the perfect distraction from my troubles.

The males I could see were shaggy and lean, with mean, thuggish faces. They reminded me of a pack of young, hungry wolves. Not a strand of red hair in the pack, so they weren’t vampires. No telltale sandalwood scent, so I knew they weren’t mages. But they definitely weren’t human.

The leader laughed. His flunkies chuckled while casting uncertain looks at him. He strolled forward, with the others getting his back. His laugh cut off as quickly as it started. “You’re poaching on our turf.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” I crossed my arms, reaching inside my jacket for the knife hidden there.

“By decree of The Shade, this here’s our official hunting ground.”

“Who the fuck is The Shade?” I demanded.

He raised a shaggy eyebrow. “The Shade’s the law. And the law says, anyone who poaches on our land deserves to be taught a lesson.”

“And who the fuck are you?”

He put his arms out and snarled. “We’re the Lone Wolves, bitch.”

Freakin’ great,
I thought. Werewolves. Just what I needed. That certainly explained the eau de wet dog flying off the pack in nose-wrinkling waves. I’d never run into any weres in L.A., but I knew enough to recognize I’d just walked into a shitstorm. Again.

I shifted my weight onto my back foot. “The what?”

“Lone Wolves.” He turned to show me the back of his raggedy jacket. Sure enough, a snarling wolf face stared back at me from the leather.

“Wait a second,” I said. “Isn’t it supposed to be ‘Lone Wolf,’ as in, you know, one? If there’s more than one, then it kind of defeats the purpose of being ‘lone,’ doesn’t it?”

The leader squinted hard, as if trying to follow my logic and getting lost. “Shut up, bitch. Hold her, boys.”

Rough hands grabbed me from behind. I allowed them to do so. “Do you know who you’re messing with?” I said calmly.

“Oh, this should be good,” the leader said.

“My name is Sabina Kane.” I said this a tad more dramatically than I’d intended.

The leader blinked. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

I opened my mouth to tell him—what? That I used to be an assassin on the Dominae’s payroll? That I was, in fact, the granddaughter of the Alpha Dominae? What good would it do me now? Even if that information meant something to the weres, it wouldn’t do me any favors. Hell, it might even convince them to turn me over to the Dominae. They’d probably put a hefty price on my head by now.

“No, I guess it shouldn’t,” I said instead. The reminder that my old life was gone hit me hard in the gut. Looked like I was the lone wolf now. But if these assholes thought I was going to lower my neck in submission, they had a nasty surprise coming.

“Enough talk. We’re gonna show you what we do to poachers.” He nodded at the guys behind me, and their arms tightened on mine. The leader bared his teeth, which were sorely in need of a good brushing. He pulled back a fist while his buddy held me still.

This type of macho group always assumed a female would automatically submit under their awesome testosterone-drenched antics. Not this chick. I might not have had any silver on me to kill them with—
if
that even killed them—but I sure as hell had the ability to inflict some major pain.

I delivered a swift jab of my knee to his soft man bits. He yelped and fell down into the fetal position with his hands covering his groin. His friends seemed unnerved to see their leader whimpering on the ground. I took advantage of the distraction to free myself from the two holding my arms. Easy work given their haste to cover their own testicles.

I grabbed the knife from my coat and slashed the arm of the one to my right. He snarled and punched me in the gut. I spun and delivered an elbow to his nose. The cartilage gave with a satisfying crunch. Two down, two to go.

But those two were already running away. I took off after them. I couldn’t risk word getting out to the Dominae that I was in New York. But I didn’t know Central Park nearly as well as they did. They disappeared like rabbits into the brush. And when I got back to where I’d left the injured weres, they were gone, too. Frustrated and still hungry, I made my way back toward the park entrance.

I
’d almost made it to my room. But just before I opened my door, Maisie’s burst open as if she’d been waiting for my return. “Sabina! You’re back.”

She looked so eager standing there, like she was genuinely happy to see me. Unfortunately, after the night I’d had, I just wanted a shower and to sleep like the dead. Maybe I’d wake up and find out all this was just a dream. A really, really shitty dream.

But I couldn’t very well just walk into my room and slam the door in Maisie’s face. I turned around to face her. “Hey, Maisie.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my gods, what happened to you?”

Judging from the hot spots of pain the weres had left on my face, I probably looked pretty rough. I opened my mouth to explain, but her eyes moved south and then widened. “Is that a bullet wound?”

My hand went to the splash of red on my tank top. “It looks worse than it is. The hole already closed.” I pulled down the neck of the tank to show her the healed skin. She went pale at the amount of blood covering my skin and clothes. But she grabbed my arm and pulled me toward her room.

“I want you to sit down and tell me everything while I clean you up.” She pushed me down into a chair and disappeared into the attached bathroom.

Sitting was a relief, but I didn’t feel comfortable with her nursing my wounds. Especially since they’d heal on their own in no time. “Maisie, I’m fine. Really.”

She reappeared from the bathroom carrying a washcloth and a couple of small brown bottles. “Nonsense. Now, tell me what happened.”

She began dabbing the washcloth on my face. I sighed. I was too tired to argue with her, and if playing nursemaid made her feel better, then who was I to argue? “I just had a run-in with an unwilling blood donor is all. You know how it is.”

She paused with the now-pink washcloth in midair. “You what?”

“I tried to feed from a guy and he shot me.”

She lowered the washcloth. “Where did this happen?”

“In the park.”

She closed her eyes. “Hekate help us.”

I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed deep and long. “Please tell me no one saw you feeding.”

I looked down. “Um, well, that’s the other thing. I kind of had a fight with some werewolves.”

She dropped the rag and fell onto the edge of the bed. “This is bad.”

“Don’t worry, they only got in a couple of sucker punches. I managed to kick most of their asses before they ran off.”

She lowered her head into her hands and mumbled something I couldn’t understand. Finally, she lifted her head and stood. “This is my fault.”

“What, why?”

“I should have warned you. Maybe you’re used to being able to feed anywhere and anytime you want, but things are different here. If The Shade finds out you poached on his lands without paying the blood tax, he’ll be pissed. Plus, the weres are his allies, so they’re well within their rights to demand compensation for injuring their people in their own territory.”

“Oops,” I said.

Maisie tilted her head. “Although if you didn’t feed from humans, none of this would have happened.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Why you find it necessary to attack innocent humans is beyond me.”

“Gee, Maisie, do you think maybe it’s because I’m a
vampire
?”

She glared at me. “
Half
-vampire.”

“Whatever. Surely it’s not a surprise I needed blood.”

“I need blood, too, but I’ve never bitten anyone. How was I to know you handled it any differently?”

I paused. “Wait, what? You’ve never bitten anyone? How is that possible?”

Maisie crossed her arms. “Believe it or not, there are plenty of ways to satisfy your need for blood without harming anyone.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

The look she sent me was similar to the ones Giguhl often saw from me. “This isn’t a joke, Sabina. I need you to promise me you won’t feed from another human while you’re under the council’s protection.”

“Well, technically, I didn’t feed from a human tonight. He shot me before I could get a good mouthful.” She pinned me with another look. I sighed. “If you think I’m giving up blood while I’m here, you’re crazy.”

She crossed her arms. “I’m not asking you to give up blood. I’m asking you to not attack people. And if the morality of the issue doesn’t sway you, then consider this: The last thing anyone needs right now is a feud to break out among the dark races in the city because you couldn’t control your bloodlust.”

I sighed again. There was nothing I hated more than politics. But I certainly didn’t want to cause trouble for Maisie or the council. “Fine, I’ll keep my fangs in check. But you’re going to have to clue me in on another way to get blood.”

She sent me a relieved smile. “That’s not a problem. When I was young, Ameritat anticipated that I’d have issues needing blood. So she opened a blood bank in the city.”

My eyes widened. “You have an entire blood bank at your disposal?”

“Well, technically its main purpose is to give back to the community. But yes, it also lets me meet my need for blood without harming anyone.”

“Not to argue or anything, but isn’t that kind of hypocritical? After all, those humans donate blood to help heal other humans, not to make sure you have fast food.”

“Not at all. Blood has a limited shelf life. Refrigerated blood can only last forty-two days before it has to be destroyed. I have a deal with the bank that I get the blood a few days before the expiration date. Plus, sometimes donated blood doesn’t pass safety screenings. Since I’m immune to human illness, that fresher blood comes to me, too.”

“Let me get this straight,” I said with a grimace. “You only drink old or diseased blood? That’s disgusting.”

“It’s not so bad. Sure, the anticoagulant they add gives it an odd aftertaste, but you get used to that.”

I put a finger in my mouth and made a gagging noise.

She shrugged. “You got a better option?”

“Synthetic blood?” I hated the stuff myself. Besides being weaker than human blood, the flavor was about as appealing as drinking piss. But I figured the human-friendly product might appeal to someone of Maisie’s obvious moral standards.

She shuddered. “Are you kidding? That stuff tastes like shit. Might as well drink water as weak as it is.”

A shocked laughed escaped my lips.

Maisie cocked her head. “What?”

“You surprise me, is all. I figured you’d be all self-righteous about it.”

“Sabina, I might not like killing humans, but that doesn’t mean I’m a saint. My body craves blood just like yours. But I believe in the mage stance that humans are to be respected, so I do what I have to do to refrain from harming them. Bagged blood is a decent compromise between violence and self-denial.”

I smiled at my sister. As much as I resented her security and the obvious love all mages had for her, I couldn’t help but like her. She was practical and, dare I say it, kind of cool. “Okay, fine. I’ll drink the bagged stuff while I’m here.”

She nodded, but her expression became pensive.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.