Suck It by Linsey Hall
2
Mac
The ether pulled me through space, making my stomach turn and my sense of location go haywire. My kidnapper’s grip was as unbreakable as steel, squeezing the breath from my lungs as I tried to fight my way free.
When the ether released us, we appeared in the middle of a stone cell. As the aftershocks of ether transportation faded from my head, he patted me down quickly and yanked the dagger from my boot, taking my only weapon.
Once he had it, he hurled me against the stone wall. My shoulder slammed into the stone and pain exploded as I sank to the ground.
“Bastard.” I struggled to my feet, but he was gone before I could see his face. I caught only a glimpse of dark clothes and a black jumper with a hood that obscured the back of his head as the wooden door slammed behind him.
Anger surged through me as I strode toward it and pounded on the wood. It was windowless and appeared to be as thick as the hull of a warship.
“Let me out of here, you bastard!” I screamed.
I knew he wouldn’t, but it felt good to yell.
“That son of a bitch.” I turned and stared at the small cell. No windows, no other doors. Just walls made of massive stone blocks.
A faint spell radiated from the walls, seeping into my body. A magic dampening spell, there was no mistaking it.
Well, the joke was on them, because I didn’t have that much magic to dampen.
Not true.
Whatever I had was increasing in strength—I just didn’t know what that was. An ability to make people do my bidding, yes. It was different than the compulsion that vampires could employ, but similar in nature. I was still a slightly shoddy seer.
But there was more to me. I could feel it.
I just didn’t know what it was because a mysterious spell had rewritten my memories of my past. For most of my life, I’d had no idea about the spell. The Witches Guild had helped me delve into my erased memories and revealed that someone had cursed my mind. Maybe it was Ludovic, maybe not.
When I’d fought him last week, he’d called me the Daughter of the Arcane Order and said that he wanted to add me to his collection.
I shuddered at the memory of the creepy phrasing he’d employed. He’d collected the souls of hundreds of supernaturals and used them to power the spells that protected him and his secret society. I didn’t know exactly what it meant to be added to that collection, but I wanted no part of it.
Fortunately, we’d released those souls.
Unfortunately, Ludovic had still escaped.
And now it looked like he might have caught me. I still didn’t have confirmation that this was his doing, but I was pretty damned sure.
I didn’t plan to stick around to find out, however.
Quickly, I pulled my cell from my pocket. I didn’t have much hope of it working—otherwise the guard would have taken it—but I had to try. Unfortunately, I was right. No signal. I tried anyway, but the call didn’t go through.
Time for Plan B.
“Genevieve?” I whispered.
With any luck, the magic-dampening spell that flowed from the walls would not suppress my connection with my familiar. Genevieve’s magic seemed to defy most rules, after all.
“Genevieve,” I whispered in a singsong voice. “I have Manhattans. Good ones, made with the expensive vermouth you like. And none of those bright red cherries you despise.”
Magic popped on the air, and her posh voice filtered through. You rang?
“I did.” I turned to see the plump badger sitting on the stone floor, her black and white fur gleaming and her eyes bright with interest.
I see no Manhattan. She looked around, understanding flashing in her eyes. Ah, I see. You are in quite a pickle.
“Exactly. Any idea how to get me out of here?”
She trundled around the room, inspecting all the walls and the door. As she turned back to me, the sound of footsteps echoed outside my cell door.
I made a shooing motion at her and mouthed the word hide.
She disappeared as silently as she’d arrived. A moment later, the heavy wooden door swung open to reveal the form of Ludovic.
No surprise there.
I stared at him. He wasn’t actually Ludovic, the white-haired man I’d met on the boat, but this newer, scarier version had never told me his true name. He’d called the older man his shell, and the idea of it made me shudder.
He was as menacing as ever, his slender body vibrating with power. Greed gleamed in his snakelike eyes, and no matter how hard I looked at them, I couldn’t see a hint of a soul behind the glassy orbs.
“So, you caught me.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the stone wall behind me. “Going to put me into one of your creepy jars now?”
His eyes flashed at the memory of the hundreds of glass jars full of magic that had sat in the basement of the house his secret society owned. Their magic had fueled him and the society, giving them power and protecting them from the consequences of their misdeeds. Because of the dark magic of those spells, the society could do whatever they wanted, and no one could find them to punish them. Hell, no one could even identify them.
I’d destroyed every single jar, dealing a devastating blow to Ludovic and his miserable society.
The smile that crept across his face was cold and hard as a glacier. “I realized that I was thinking too small, then.”
“Oh yeah?” My mind raced, trying to figure out a way to escape. Ideally, to kill him.
“There are plenty of other souls we can draw power from. But you’re special.”
“How so?” They had answers about what I was, I was sure. Ever since he’d called me the Daughter of the Arcane Order, I’d known he held some of the secrets of my past.
“Your power, of course. There’s more to you than meets the eye, and you would be a valuable asset to the society.”
“I already made it clear that I’m deeply uninterested in joining your little group.”
“Your mind can be changed.”
I scoffed.
“We can save that vampire of yours.”
Hope flashed, followed by fear and confusion. For my own safety, I shouldn’t want that. But I did. “You’re bluffing.”
But I knew he wasn’t. I could feel it. His confidence was so strong it filled the air, and my newly powerful seer sense indicated he was telling the truth.
“Of course we’re not. Our society knows more secrets than fate itself. One of those is how to save the First Vampire.”
“Oh yeah? How?”
He laughed. “That secret is only yours if you join us.”
“No deal.” We’d find another way. No chance I was joining this group of evil, murdering lunatics. “I don’t even know why you’d want someone like me.”
“Oh, don’t play stupid. Of course we want someone with your power.”
“What power is that, exactly?”
“More secrets for you to find out. If you join us.”
“Still a no from me.”
He tutted disappointedly. “A little time in this cell will soften you up, I’m sure.”
“Oh, suck it, you miserable old bastard.”
His brows rose, but he just smiled and turned to the door. Before I could charge him, he was gone, the heavy door shutting behind him.
Shit, shit, shit.
I dragged my hand through my hair and spun in a circle.
This was not ideal.
And where the hell was I?
He gone?
Though I couldn’t see her, Genevieve’s voice echoed in my head.
“He’s gone, but wait just a moment to make sure he doesn’t come back.”
I waited impatiently for a few minutes before Genevieve appeared, two glass potion bombs clutched in her little paws. My eyes alighted on them, and I grinned widely. “Oh, you are clever.”
I am aware. She held one out to me, and I took it. When I reached for the second, she bared her little teeth. Mine.
“Fair enough.” I turned to the door and inspected it. Genevieve had brought me a garden variety explosive, which would be perfect for this job. And if one didn’t work, we had two. “I’ll go first. If the door isn’t blown away, it’s your turn.”
She grinned and clutched her potion bomb.
“But back up toward the wall. It’s going to be a big blast.” I pressed my back against the farthest wall. It was still going to be a little iffy, but we’d survive. “Here goes nothing.”
I hurled the bomb at the door, then ducked to cover my head. The blast pressed me back against the stone, hot and fierce. Smoke filled my lungs, acrid and terrible, and I coughed as I felt my skin heat almost unbearably.
When I looked up, the door was still there.
“Your turn.”
Genevieve hurled her bomb as I buried my head in my arms. Again, my skin felt so hot it might melt off, but the pain was just barely tolerable.
When the smoke faded, I met Genevieve’s eyes. You look like a chimney sweep.
“Feel like one, too.” I coughed as I stood and approached the destroyed door. Half of it was blown away—more than enough for my escape.
Together, Genevieve and I climbed out through the gap. The smoke dissipated quickly in the wide hall, revealing two guards charging toward us. They were massively tall, with broad shoulders and cruel faces.
Magic radiated from them, and I regretted giving the potion bag back to Eve. It would have come in real handy right about now.
“Don’t kill her,” growled the one on the left. “The master wants her alive.” He raised a hand and hurled a blast of flame at me.
I lunged right, narrowly avoiding the small fireball. Damned fire mage. It wouldn’t have killed me, but it would have hurt like hell.
Genevieve charged him. Scrambling up his legs and chest, she clawed at his eyes. She was so fast and agile that he couldn't get a hand on her.
I left her to it, turning my attention to the other guard. He raised a wicked looking dagger, and I grinned.
Hand-to-hand I could deal with.
I charged him, ducking the first slash of his blade as I drove my knee up into his groin. The air whooshed out of him as he bent over. Quickly, I slammed my knee into his chin so hard that he flew backward and crashed into the ground, unconscious.
I dived for his dagger, which had flown out of his hand and slammed against the wall. I picked it up. The hilt was a comforting weight, and I whirled to face Genevieve and the other guard.
He managed to grab her by the scruff and hurl her away from him. Just before she slammed into the wall, she disappeared.
I lunged toward the guard, swiping out with my blade. Blood poured from scratches on his forehead, obscuring his vision, and I easily landed a blow to his chest. Crimson bloomed from the long cut, and I followed up the attack with a swift, hard punch to the neck.
He gasped and clutched his throat.
Kill him.
The darker part of me wanted to eliminate the threat entirely, but I couldn’t be sure if he was totally evil or just a hired gun. His magic didn’t make it clear.
I ignored the urge and flipped my dagger around so that the blunt edge of the hilt became a weapon. Swiftly, I slammed it into his temple. He collapsed backward, unconscious.
Genevieve appeared at my side a moment later. I would have killed him.
“Bloodthirsty beast.” I gave the other guard one last look to make sure he was still unconscious, then headed down the hall. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Wherever here was. I’d used my last transport charm to get back to Guild City, so we’d need to at least make it out of this building to get to safety. Hopefully we’d be in a city, or something.
Anyway, I wanted to explore if I could. It was dangerous, but Ludovic had answers—both about my past and about how to help Drakon.
I looked down at Genevieve. “We don’t know how many guards there are. If I get overwhelmed, go tell my friends where I am. Maybe bring back a transport charm.”
She nodded. For now, we search?
“Clever again.” She was a badger after my own heart, and together, we’d find answers in this godforsaken place.
We raced down the hall toward a flight of stairs at the end. They led upward, indicating that the dungeon was in the basement.
“Predictable,” I muttered.
Disappointing. Genevieve tisked. Villains really are so dreadfully similar, aren’t they?
“In my experience, yes. Bastards, the lot of them.” I began to climb, moving quickly up the stairs.
She followed, and we reached a door a moment later. Carefully, I pushed it open and peered into the room beyond.
A guard stared right back at me, his eyes widening as they met mine.
Shit.
Worse than that—seated behind him was a table of other guards eating their lunch.
Oh fates—I’d stumbled upon the freaking break room.