Page 142 of Magic of the Damned

“Phone call or text would’ve been nice, or a note.”

Eyeing where he’d placed the sigils, I got the impression he would be doing most of the talking. It wouldn’t be a conversation but an interrogation. Turning in the room, I looked at the framed art on the wall, the only one with a black frame.

“TV?”

He nodded and opened one of the decorative boxes on the table and handed me the remote.

I turned it on, going through the news channels, trying to figure out the state of the world. Were the supernatural out? Had there been more sightings? Were the Conventicles able to contain things?

He left the room and returned with a phone, his fingers tapping across them.

“Contacting Anand,” he said, answering my questioning look. When he was finished, I asked to borrow it. My phone had been left in his car the day of the attack.

Scrolling all the main social media, I was surprised not to see anything. Reports of fights, sighting of shifters, recent hashtags of magic being real. I deduced that at least some of the witches were still alive and managing the damage control.

“You have my attention, Dominic.”

My eyes snapped up from the phone to Helena standing at the door, keeping the several feet they had from each other.

“You betrayed me for a Tenebras Obducit?” he pushed out through gritted teeth.

“No, I was showing you the errors of your ways. And you still haven’t learned.” She looked in my direction and the sphere of magic she lobbed at me hit the protective barrier I’d erected with little effort. The attack still caused my heart to squeeze and a soft pant escaped. We had practiced it at least a hundred times, but with Dominic and not against someone who wished me harm. Admittedly, a part of me worried about the efficacy. But it held, and I was safe.

Helena’s wide-eyed shock at me having magic cost her precious seconds. In a flash of movement, Dominic’s magic forced her into the air and landed her on her butt in the middle of the cloaked sigil circle. He evoked the spells, and shimmering crystals formed around her. Confusion warped her expression as she attempted to make sense of the situation. I had magic.

“You betrayed me for a Tenebras Obducit.” It wasn’t just the betrayal but who he’d been betrayed for. Would her siding with their father have hurt less? His lips moved slowly. Helena’s body jerked and tensed. She collapsed to the floor with a shriek of pain.

Pressing her hand against the enclosure, her face strained as she attempted to use her magic to break it. Nothing. With more effort, her face folded into a grimace.

He lowered himself to the ground so they were face to face. Eye to eye. Glare to glare. If there were any fragments of sibling love, it was hidden well.

“You don’t have magic in there. If I wish it to be so, I can give you so much pain you’d beg for death to end it.”

Arrogance drained from her face, leaving a look so docile and repentant that if I hadn’t witnessed all the things she was capable of, I’d be begging for leniency for her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Yeah, there’s more honesty and sincerity in the emails I get from a prince offering me thousands of dollars. “If you want someone to blame for me turning on you, look in the mirror.” She turned a look in my direction with the same curiosity. Magic. I had magic. “She has magic now. You didn’t make things better, brother. You made it worse.”

Anand’s appearance lifted the look of desolation on her face. There was hope of him changing her situation. He looked around at the captured Helena, Dominic kneeling near her, and me in the protective barrier. Not an ounce of surprise showed on his face when I dropped it. He stared for a little longer before a frown settled on his face. I couldn’t figure out the target of his disapproval. My acquired magic, Dominic’s response to his sister’s betrayal, or some disaster we weren’t aware of.

“Some members of the New Conventicle have defected. Be aware that not all who were once allies are still?—”

The room vibrated and the door exploded into flying splinters of wood.

A cadre of vampires moving at an imperceptible speed entered. Helena stood, watching the scene with interest as they were met with a force of magic that blasted them back against the wall. Before one could recover, Anand had a stake inches from his heart and was about to plunge it in when Dominic called out to stop him.

Dominic had plucked another vampire from the group and had him secured against him by the neck with his claws at the vampire’s throat. The others he kept secured against the floor with his magic. Anger plastered his face as he took in the vampires and looked for the magical threat that caused the disruption. The assailant remained in the shadows.

“Enemy or ally?” Dominic asked the vampire he held.

He responded with silence and a piercing look. At a slight nod of Dominic’s head, Anand finished the job with the other vampire.

“If you are my enemy, no mercy will be given.”

I bit my tongue and gave myself the same internal speech that this violence was necessary for there to be peace. I needed to believe it.

“Answer my question,” Dominic demanded. Although their silence seemed like an indicator of their position, Dominic wanted more. Claws pressed into the vampire’s throat that he was holding, the vampire’s blood turning Dominic’s shirt crimson as it spilled over it.

“Speak.”

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