Page 58 of Shark 2

Fire and pain seared into my back as someone stabbed a large knife into me, between my shoulder blade and my spine.

I turned and gaped at Koia. “A gift from him,” she said in a weird voice.

I punched her in the chest, sending her flying against the bathroom wall. Her head cracked as it hit the tiled wall and she slid down it, unmoving.

“Help!” I screamed as my legs weakened and I fell to my knees in the shower.

Grant ran inside, saw Koia, and stepped over her to get to me. “Kass! What is Koia doing here? Shit, we need to get that knife out of you.”

“I think it’s poisoned,” I whispered as my breaths came in pants.

Reed ran in and his eyes widened.

“Call Theo,” Grant ordered him.

“Is … she … dead?” I asked.

Reed squatted and felt for her pulse. He shook his head. “She’s alive.”

“Why would she attack you like this?” Grant asked.

“I don’t know. She said, ‘a gift from him,’ but I don’t know who she could be referring to.” I felt pretty confident that I didn’t have any enemies that were still alive. Who was this mysterious “him”?

“Where is she?” Theo yelled as she came into the bathroom. Reed had dragged Koia out of the bathroom earlier, but I hadn’t wanted to move until we removed the knife from my back. She squatted behind me and inspected the knife. “It’s poisoned and there’s a spell on it.” Narrowing her eyes and using her magic, she focused in silence before she stumbled back. “No!”

“What is it?” Grant asked.

“I’m sorry, Kass. This is my fault,” Theo said and swallowed hard. Stepping forward again, she used her magic on my shoulder. “On my order, pull the knife, Grant.”

Grant stepped forward and nodded. “Understood.”

Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I said, “I’m ready.”

Theo set her hands on either side of the wound, making me grunt in pain. “Now.”

Grant jerked the knife out of my back, tearing a scream from my throat.

Theo used her magic, whispering something as she also put a poultice of some type on the wound as it was closing. “You should be good in about twenty minutes,” she whispered, stood and backed out of the shower.

“Why do you think this is your fault?” I asked.

Grant handed me a towel to wrap around my body as I stood. He kept a hand on my elbow in case I started to fall.

Theo moved into my bedroom, sat on the edge of my bed, and sighed heavily. “That spell, I was able to feel the creator’s magic. You can trace a magical signature if you know the person’s magic or have the ability to track people by magic. There are several who can do it, but it’s a special skill.”

She was rambling, but I decided to let her.

“In my former life, I was called a ‘Hound’ because I was sent to crime scenes to detect magic and then tracked the culprits down. My partner, Roman, was a powerful newbie with some wild ideas and little self-restraint. While hunting down a particularly heinous murderer, we cornered the culprit in a warehouse. My partner found him first and when I got there, he had almost killed him. I had to use my powers to toss him away before he killed the murderer. However, when I flung him away, he landed in a vat of some strange goo. Before I could help him, he sank to the bottom of the vat and when he emerged, he was nearly catatonic. It took me and six healers to heal him enough he could function normally. Whatever was in that vat changed him, and since I had been the one to knock him into it, I became his enemy.”

“Wait, so your partner had a true villain origin story?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes, but said, “Yes, and he did become a villain. He not only started going after confirmed criminals, but also suspected criminals. A few of them turned out to be innocent, but he killed them before it could be proven. I was sent to bring him in and it was a really nasty battle. I defeated him, but I was laid up for months after and that was when I decided to retire, and when I started accepting who I really am. He was locked up, but I’d heard a year ago that he escaped. They warned me he might come for me, but after a year, I thought I was safe.” She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. “He must have been watching me, learned you were my friend, and used the spell to send Koia after you.”

“So, Koia’s not at fault?” Reed asked.

Theo shook her head. “No, she was under compulsion.”

“So, your enemy is here and he’s just announced his presence by showing us that he can bespell people,” Grant summarized.

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