Page 113 of Magic of the Damned

“And you?” She directed her question to Anand.

“Shifters are harder to kill because we heal extremely fast,” Anand offered.

I suspected he was even more difficult to kill because of the magic he possessed along with his shifter abilities.

Emoni’s lips formed a tremulous line as she attempted to make sense of this new information and world that coexisted along with hers.

“Are you immortal?” she asked me tentatively, again displaying cracks in the courageous mask she presented.

“I don’t think so.”

“How do you know? You’re a magical source. Are you considered”—she frowned, took in a deep breath, and held it before releasing it—“human? How are you different than a vampire, witch, or shifter?”

Dominic answered her. “No one is definitely immortal. We all can succumb to death. Witches and shifters live longer than average humans, but they will die from old age. Vampires can be killed, but their appearance stays as it was when they were changed. The same for me. I can be killed. It is quite difficult, but it can be done.”

Dominic’s clarification on immortality didn’t clear up things much. Vampires didn’t age and were hard to kill. That says immortal to me. Shifters and witches weren’t immortal.

“What is longer than human?”

Emoni got to the question before I could.

“Witches can live to around two hundred years, shifters three,” Dominic said. It may not be immortality, but they outlived the humans they would encounter in life. The risk of magical dilution kept them from mating with humans, but I suspected having to watch them die was another reason.

“I don’t know if Luna is immortal,” Dominic admitted.

My mouth opened but the questions didn’t come out. Nothing. A flood of questions came to mind but I was speechless.

“She exists to hold Tenebras Obducit magic. Dark and powerful magic. Take it from her and she dies. I haven’t been able to establish whether Peter drawing magic from the well takes away from her life.” He held my gaze and with a great deal of effort my mouth closed and I desperately attempted to appear stoic, a task I failed on a massive scale.

As he moved closer to me, all emotion fell from his face, perhaps to offer me comfort. It served as a distraction as I focused on him—him alone.

“I attempted to bring you back but I couldn’t until the spell was reversed.” Pulling his eyes from me, he looked at Emoni then back to me. “You can die. You did. Briefly.”

The cost of me leaving the underworld was more severe than I initially thought. Whether brief or not, that was the result. Death.

There wasn’t any coffee in my cup and I didn’t bother rinsing it out before dumping vodka in mine and taking a long drink.

“I was going to tell you earlier but you fled to the bathroom before I could.”

Because I had to deal with not being able to remove the magic, not that I only existed to serve as some source of it.

“How did Peter find out what she was?” Emoni asked, giving me a small smile. “I can’t imagine he did it himself.”

“No, he’s quite powerful. It had to be done by another Caster and Peter learned of it. We’ve made it our mission over the years to rid the world of them. She”—Dominic shifted to peek in my direction—“was a contingency plan. Their main goal was always to cause havoc and unchecked destruction. I’m one of the few whose magic and abilities rival theirs.”

“Rival? He imprisoned you.” Emoni was in protective mode and she was struggling to temper her words and frustrations.

“Yes, with the use of magic he pulled from her. He wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise. Which is why everything needs to be done to keep him from accessing the magic she holds.” Dominic’s tight-lipped smile mirrored Emoni’s. A slight narrowing of his eyes showed his dilemma: admiration for her fierce loyalty and protective mode and annoyance that her enmity was directed toward him.

“What does this mean for Luna?” Emoni asked. “You’re free. You have your weird job of supernatural enforcer back and, well, you need to do something about Peter, but that doesn’t have anything to do with Luna. Lock him up, do a better job than you did the first time, and let her have her life back.” She clearly meant a life without Dominic having any part in it. “You two”—she jabbed her finger at each of them—“are the only ones who know about her. Forget that information and move on.”

“Peter will be handled. I have every intention of finding him and making sure he never has access to Luna. As far as I know, he’s the only one, besides us, who is aware that she’s a vessel of dark magic. That should keep her safe.”

The ominous promise left nothing to the imagination. The room became quiet. I continued to sip my drink, watching Emoni deal fairly well with the overt admission that Peter would be killed.

“Forest,” Emoni sighed, breaking the silence with my brother’s name. She put the cup on the counter, eyes widened on me. “Is he like you? Maybe he’s always known, which is why he’s had problems finding his footing in this world.”

Dominic shook his head. “I don’t believe so.”

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