Page 31 of Hunted
Chapter 11
Sanka
Inudged an explodedsalt bowl off the edge of the table and into the trashcan, then reached for the jar of powdered ghost root.Between trying to plan the emperor’s death and trying to free Josh from the vampire parasite in his head, it seemed like I lived in the workroom these days.
The runes around the perimeter of the room glowed a little too bright, which meant Richard had tampered with them again when I wasn’t looking.I knew Ruya wanted to help the dhampir, and he wasn’t a bad guy, but man would I ever be glad to see the fucker go.He was too curious, and too unconcerned about little things like mortality.
“Don’t touch that,” I said without turning.
Behind me, something crashed.
“That wasn’t my fault,” Richard called.
“It wasliterallyyour fault,” I grumbled.Ruya insisted that he liked to play dumb when he was among the vampire court, so they’d underestimate him and ignore him, yadda, yadda...but I was really starting to question whether it was actually an act at all.
And also...why was he even still here?He had talked to Josh.Shouldn’t Acacia be calling him back or usinghimto order us around?He said it was probably because he was below her notice—he just wasn’t that important.But...come to think of it...maybe she was using him to torture us.
“You didn’t label that stone ‘do not touch,’” the annoyance informed me.
“It was glowing and humming, and engraved with a skull and cross bones,” I muttered.
He peeked around the corner of a shelf piled with sigil scrolls that I used when I couldn’t recall some of the lesser-used symbols, chewing on the end of a licorice wand.He occasionally paused to play with the thing with his mini-fangs.I knew he was half vampire, but was the other half cat or something?“So...you’re saying it wasaskingto be poked,” he said with a grin.
I gave him a withering look.“Go re-read those books you hauled over from the coven.”Richard had been stealing library books from the vampires for a while now.I had to admit, itwasuseful how the vampires dismissed the enslaved dhampir and overlooked his existence.As long as he went back long enough to do a few chores and skulk about annoying people into telling him to get lost, no one seemed to know or care how he spent the rest of his time.
“I already re-read them,” he replied to my demand.“They aren’t at all useful.No big surprise.It’s not like she’d keep them around if they had instructions on breaking blood bonds in them.”
I shook my head and tried to infuse my magic into the charm I was working on a bit more slowly this time.Carefully.“Go help Yukio with the north ward, then.Maybe test it for him, since it’s geared to vampires specifically.”
“Already did,” he said smugly.“It’s stronger now.Could electrocute a minor god.”He rubbed the tip of his nose.“I think it singed all my nose hairs off.”
“Fantastic,” I said flatly.“Go make some tea, then.”
The charm ring at the center of the room pulsed softly.Six small stones surrounded a twisted wire cage filled with thread, bone, and iron filings.A single silver coin hovered above it all, suspended in a tension field built from ambient magic and caffeine-fueled desperation.I was really grasping at straws here.Normally, I didn’t use all this shit to cast spells—only weaklings or bloodless witches needed that kind of crutch to work magic.But everything else I’d tried so far had failed, so here we were.
“This version won’t burn him,” I said, more to reassure myself than for Richard’s benefit.The last charm I had given Josh left the poor guy with third-degree burns.Luckily, he had superior paranormal healing now.But still, that shit had to sting.
“That’s a bold claim,” Richard drawled as he continued poking at my things like a kid who couldn’t hold still.
