~*~
Mia had the mother of all headaches. Every hair on her head felt like it was weighted with iron, making the simple act of getting out of bed a major accomplishment.
As happened more and more frequently lately, a spell had sprung to her lips and been uttered without her even knowing what the words meant. Now she stared at Xin Li, equal parts appalled at what she had done and pleased she had managed to catch one of the world’s most feared mages unawares.
“You did catch him when he was more worried about you than he was about his own safety, my dear. You had him at a bit of a disadvantage.” The voice came from the windows on the other side of Xin.
Mia froze, instinctively doubling her shields in response to the unexpected voice. She could sense no one else in the room.
“I’m not there, Mia. Although I wouldn’t mind it a bit. I have a feeling it would be quite a pleasure to meet the woman who can catch my son off guard.”
A jagged, choking sound came from Xin in response. Mia stalked closer, moving in a wide circle to make sure he was truly confined by her spell.
“I’m in the window. And you may want to consider releasing him. I do think you’re smothering him inside the spell of entrapment. Nicely done, by the way—using a heavy metal spell like so. Most mages are more likely to attack with a weather spell, or a physical deter—”
“Enough!” The phrase to ripple the window glass slid from her lips, and as simple as that the man was gone.
Now what was she going to do?
Reaching the far point of the circle she’d begun, Mia could see Xin Li’s face. He was looking a bit pale, his lips white around the edges as he tried to suck in air. Mia tried to fight back the wave of panic at the thought that she might actually kill him with her magic and desperately tried to think of a spell that would hold him without smothering him. But now that she wasn’t in danger her mind stayed mercilessly blank. The only spell that came to mind was the one of release.
“Ah, hell. I can’t get any answers out of you if you’re dead.”
Letta heluta.
The metal barrier shimmered and was gone. Xin drew in a gasping breath, but otherwise made no moves, Mia was glad to see. She was never sure what was going to pop out of her mouth when she was threatened these days.
“Why did you do this to me?” Mia demanded.
It was harder than she would have liked to ignore the way his smoothly muscled chest moved as he gasped for breath, momentarily unable to answer. Mia trembled at the realization that she was caught in a dangerous situation here. She wanted answers, but her instincts of self-preservation were going to get one of them killed if they couldn’t stop her dangerous pattern of act first, talk later. Her magic was wildly uncontrollable; the only thing it seemed to be good for was killing the people who tried to hurt her.
Xin Li was the only one who could give her the answers she needed. She couldn’t get any answers from him if he tried to kill her first.
Coming here was seeming like a bad, bad idea.
“Can we have a truce? No magic while we talk this out?” His voice was still raspy as he panted for breath, but at least he didn’t make any sudden movements.
Mia hoped that might mean he realized just how bad an idea it would be to startle her. The image of what the Irish mage had looked like after he’d popped out of a dark parking garage and startled her was something that still turned her stomach. She didn’t want to see what Xin looked like from the inside out. But— “Why should I trust you? You flattened me at the door before I could even get a word out.”
“You surprised me, Mia. Or more accurately, a mage surprised me. Your shields are good. They aren’t perfect. They left just enough of a void that I knew someone was out there who was trying very hard not to be noticed.”
“So you were protecting yourself?” She studied him, finally deciding she had to trust him on this once. With a small nod, she perched on the edge of a chair, rolling her neck from side to side to try and relax the tense muscles. “What happened to me? Why am I…not like I was before?”
He met her gaze from across the room and then eased into the other chair. “What do you know about your father?”
“Nothing. Mother would not even say his name. He was an Italian she met in Vegas, and he died without even knowing she was pregnant. And…I think she loved him very much. She would always get sad when I tried to ask about him. After a while, I stopped asking.”
“I think—no, I’m sure now—that your father was a mage. The last of his family, and a fairly powerful one, although not strong enough. How much do you know of mage power and the children of mages?”
Mia tried to take it all in. Her father had been a mage. “Not much of either. I mean, I worked here at Dunvegas, so I know some of what they can do. The children, not so much.”
“Half mages, which is what you would be called, aren’t that common to begin with. How strong their powers are, how much they are mage-like and how much human, varies from one to another. Usually the mage’s family will claim and protect the child, raise them until their power awakens. If those powers are strong enough to pass in the mage world, they are welcome to do so; if their powers are too weak, they usually live in the human world as a psychic or even try to pass as completely normal.”
“Why did my powers awaken?”
Xin looked reluctant but answered. “Mage powers in a human don’t usually awaken until they are in their 50’s. Which is quite young for a mage, barely out of puberty, really. Yours were probably triggered by a combination of what we shared, the strong magic already around us here, and…”
“And?”
“And the emotion of what we shared.”
Mia bolted from her chair. “There was no emotion there. Pleasure, ok. Anger—where the hell did you go the next morning? Ok, I had a lot of anger.”
“I’ve been kicking myself for that for a year.”
Mia looked up warily as he rose and crossed to her, but her defensive instincts stayed quiet. She stayed still, letting him come closer. “Where did you go? Breakfast meeting you couldn’t get out of?”
“Something like that. Look, Dad says you’ve seen for yourself how aggressive the mages can be about gathering power.”
“If by aggressive you mean murderous, yes. Up close and personal, even.”
“One of the first defenses is to set a callback spell. Especially when you go into unfamiliar territory, you set a spell that calls you back at a certain time. Foils kidnappings, ransoms, and attempts to coerce alliances if you can poof out even when your power pool has been nullified. Think of it as a get out of jail free card.”
Mia nodded and wondered how she could learn that one. “Hey, how come spells are just popping into my head? And how can I make sure the right spell pops into my head when I want it, not just when I’m desperate?”
“You sound like you’re an Instinctive. Really an uncommon talent, and not something that half mages usually have at all. Your magic comes to you instinctively, in flashes of knowledge that you don’t really control.” He crouched down by her chair, his hand resting warmly on her own. She clung to it, relishing the feel of his skin against her own. There was an odd vibration where their flesh met, a barely-there buzz like the build up of static when she drug her feet across carpet. It was oddly arousing, leaving her senses heightened and making her wish he’d touch her with more than just a hand. The longer he touched her, the better she was feeling; within a moment her headache had all but disappeared.
“Xin Li.” Everything he’d told her was spinning around in her mind, in a jumbled mess of confused clarity. To have names and logical explanations had a surprisingly calming affect on her. For the first time in a year, she felt that she was totally sane, not losing her head to some alternate reality that would end with her spending her days staring at rubber walls and making spider pets.
“Ask me anything, Mia.”
It had been her one wish when she arrived, the burning question that had driven h
er to seek him out. Now Mia was afraid to ask the last question. “How do I get rid of—this. All of it. I never wanted to be a mage. I don’t think I’m going to be a very good one. So far, all it’s done is get me very nearly dead a dozen times and make some other mages very much dead instead.”
“Ah, Mia. I’m afraid there isn’t a way to take your powers away. They aren’t something that were added to you last year; they were always there, just waiting to be awoken. And it would have happened, later if not sooner.” He was trying to look comforting Mia could tell, but his hand had begun moving in small circles across her arm. And that touch was far from comforting. It was stimulating, arousing, and very near driving her to forget why she wanted to have her powers removed in the first place.
“So I’m going to have to keep hiding from the other mages, keep killing the ones that find me, and very likely eventually end up dead for my troubles?” Mia tried to get upset at the thought. Hard to do when all she could think about was his arms, moving now to pull her up to stand beside him.
Xin lowered his head until his lips were a mere breath from hers. “No more hiding. My family is one of four that hold permanent seats on the high court. You’ll be under our protection; no one will try to take your life again for a very long while.”
More excited by his lips so close to hers than by his words, it took a moment for what he said to sink in. “Wait. Why will they try to take my life at all?”
He groaned and pulled back. “It’s a complicated thing. You’ve got years of training ahead—you won’t always be an Instinctive. And if your schooled powers are as strong as your instinctive ones, you’re going to hold power of your own, independent of your foster status.”
“I don’t want power. I don’t want to have to battle anyone. I just want…”
His lips, on hers. Hot and demanding, their touch set her on fire, driving every thought of power, magic, and killers out of her mind. His tongue was there to sweep away the doubts, driving her to cling tighter to him and begin the battle of desire.
Strong, hard hands settled on her back, one hand molding itself to her ass and pulling her into his strength. And then she was lost, his mouth devouring hers, conquering her. Mia knew she was right where she wanted to be. She had a feeling this Vegas Magic was going to keep her busy for a long, long time.
(Return to Table of Contents)
The Big Bad Wolf
By Bianca D’Arc