Page 52 of Magic of the Damned

“Stop!” I yelled, not caring who heard, but there wasn’t anyone to startle. I took a quick glance into the coffee shop. Empty. Almost. One person remained: a man standing just a few feet away. His round face and stern appearance matched his short, stout body. The eyes were keen with predatory alertness, like the others. Scoping his prey. Shifter.

How had I missed Cameron and Lilith leaving? Or the absence of customers? There was no way I was so engrossed in my conversation with Jackson that I missed people exiting the store, and Emoni wouldn’t have left without telling me, and we never left anyone in the store alone. The witch must have used a spell to compel them to leave.

My theory was proven when four non-humans joined the shifter. Two of them were vampires, for sure. I suspected one of the new arrivals was a shifter. She had the nuanced ferocity that I’d come to attribute to them. Predators in their own right. I wasn’t sure what type of supernatural the fourth new arrival was. Perhaps another witch.

“Don’t kill him. Please.”

My heart pounded and my mouth dried as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

“Luna, we owe you a great deal. We know what you’ve done. What you have sacrificed to make this happen. I want to convince you of our cause and our appreciation.”

What terribly wrong version of the story had they heard? Willing? Not at all. Sacrifice? I was at the point of bartering anything to get out of this web I was caught in. Was this part of Rei’s swaying me that supernaturals should be revealed, unimpeded by the rules that kept them from using their magic against humans, doing things like this without consequence?

“Luna, it is as you wish. What would you have me do with him?”

As I wish. I wish you not to be an ex-boyfriend-killing sociopath. Why is death always the first option with them?

She waited for instruction. What to tell her? No to the killing or hurting him, but can you cast a spell to make him less of an insufferable ass, seemed really inappropriate. I knelt down and pressed a finger to Jackson carotid’s artery; I found a pulse. The beat was steady but slower than mine. Was this his normal or a result of him being in this state? Would it continue to slow until it stopped?

“It’s just a sleep spell,” she assured me. “I can wake him or do whatever you wish me to.” A cruel smile feathered across her lips. This is not how to ingratiate yourself to a person. This is not normal. Be more normal.

“Wake him and let him go,” I said, watching the thrill from the anticipation of violence eke from her face. It wasn’t the violence she wanted; it was domination.

She scoffed. “Let him go? It’s not that easy, Luna. He knows. Right now, those are the rules.” She bristled, her voice tight with irritation. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s what we’re fighting for. Our acknowledgment and place in this world. No longer will we have to go through such extremes to hide our existence or be penalized anytime we risk exposure.”

“Don’t hurt him. Get him out of here, or all talks are over. I’m leaving.” I had bargaining power and I had to wield it to help Jackson out of a mess that I was moored to.

With a sound of contempt, she nodded in agreement and looked in the vampires’ direction. A woman started toward us, her auburn hair a stark contrast to her limestone-fair skin. She possessed an overwhelming presence, despite her slight build. Her movement toward us was done with the ease of someone floating through the air. I glanced at her eyes but refused to hold focus with the vampire as she attempted to hold mine. As if it was instinctual. Compel the human, get them to do your bidding.

With the vampire at Jackson’s side, the witch whispered a spell, and a brilliant silver light moved over Jackson’s face. He eased up on his elbows, like he’d been awakened from a deep sleep. Confusion was all over his face at me standing a few inches away, the stern-faced witch in front, and the vampire’s tranquil features that vied for his attention. Which he surrendered to easily. Transfixed by her eyes, he was lulled into complacency.

Her brusque, stilted voice didn’t sound melodic or entrancing, but Jackson was enchanted by it. Enthralled by her. I remembered that feeling—and hated subjecting him to it. Forcing him into a faux need to please her and follow her wishes without challenge. Even if it was her simple request that he go straight home and remember that it was a lazy day for him.

Attentive to her directions, he stood when commanded to, walked out the door, and didn’t look back, just as she had instructed. He obeyed, without any signs of being controlled by someone else, which seemed the most worrying thing about vampires and their ability to compel. How did you determine if a person was acting of their own volition or at the behest of a vampire?

“This is why living in the shadows is ridiculous. He should know who we are, what we are capable of, and leave us the hell alone. Spending our talents hiding, making sure the simple little humans don’t know of our existence is foolish. We’re giving them power over us. Over us!” the vampire hissed. Nothing about her voice was beautiful or lyrical, despite the hold it had over Jackson. It was arctic, cold and sharp as a blade.

“It’s always power with you all, isn’t it?” Anand acknowledged, moving from the shadows, a blade in hand, taking in the five people in the room with the disinterest of looking at common nuisances.

The witch stood and squared her shoulders. Her lips furled as she placed a laser-sharp focus on him.

“Abandon this Awakening absurdity and walk away unscathed,” Anand urged.

“Or you can stop following Dominic and the Conventicle’s restrictive and insidious rules and join us. Why should we be hidden from humans and forced to accommodate them? Why are we required to bow to their whims and not the other way around? Why are you complicit when the most powerful of our kind are being jailed to satisfy the Conventicle’s ego and flaunt the control they have over us? We don’t need regulation and anonymity,” she challenged.

“Rei, this misrepresentation isn’t befitting of you. Own your belief and your true desires,” he told her. “You believe revealing magic will put you on top of the food chain. That you’d be allowed to be openly reckless without consequences. You all want exemption from governance and rules under the false belief that it will be liberation. It won’t. It will lead to a great deal of violence and everyone vying for domination.”

He closed the distance between them, forcing her to adopt a defensive stance despite her shifter and vampire allies spreading out to surround him. She was clearly a powerful witch, and the others were undoubtedly just as formidable, but faced with Anand, apprehension and fear lingered in their postures. Forcing them to be reactive. He had the lithe, calm assurance of a person who thrived on adrenaline and danger. Surrounded by predators and powerful magic, he carried himself as if he was a wolf surrounded by lambs.

“How is that different from what we have now? The Conventicle making and enforcing the rules.”

“Rules? You mean, not using magic on humans, not stealing magic from other witches, and not killing other supernaturals. Are those rules too hard to follow?”

Rei tutted. “They break them all the time.”

I wasn’t totally convinced that the world knowing about supernaturals was a bad thing. We could learn to coexist. Were the Awakeners the bad guys or the good guys? I was getting a stress headache trying to figure out who the good guys were and where I stood.

“Most of the time it’s fixing issues that arise as a result of you and your ilk being reckless and trying to reveal yourselves.”

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