Chapter Ten
Oh man, being blownup sucked so bad. My body ached from hitting the floor, my ears rang from likely burst eardrums, and everything felt fuzzy as my body tried to adjust to the sensation.
“Melinda!” I shouted.
Helix shoved himself up on the floor in a second, realizing at the same time what I did. Had this mage come here for her?
It took me two tries to get on my feet. Hawk had managed it in one and limped down the hallway the direction Helix had just ran off too. The direction of the explosion of course. Debris and rubble rained down from upper floors, and the sounds of furniture cracking and breaking while it burned, slowly filtered in.
I kept walking, one foot in front of the other, hoping to catch sight of her clutching her aching head the same as the rest of us. Fin, burned bright and clear, the same as always in my chest, and right now, I couldn’t be upset about it. So, where the hell was she?
I made it to where it seemed like the explosion originated, and found Helix kneeling on the rubble with Melinda unconscious across his lap.
“I can’t heal her; can you do something?”
I shuffled through the rocks and bits of furniture to reach them. When I laid my hands on her it was almost too easy to summon my power and watch her bruises and broken flesh knit back together.
I lifted my hands. “She was alive right? I didn’t just create an undead mage zombie or something.”
“What?” he sputtered.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” Too soon, I guess.
A few seconds later she lifted her head and coughed heavily. When her eyes bat open, I watched both Helix and Hawk exhale loudly. They were both worried about her.
Since no one said anything, I took the lead. “Are you alright?”
She nodded and let Helix sit her on the ground. “I’m fine. Banged up, I guess. Without my power I couldn’t feel the energy of the piece, so I didn’t realize it would have had that big a blast radius.”
I gaped. “Blast radius. You did that on purpose? You wanted to blow up the house?”
“Have you ever hated a place so much that sometimes you fantasized about destroying it. Imagine that fantasy being your only lifeline for years. When Fin told me the house was mine, well, I decided it was time to fulfill the promise I made to myself when Esteban held me prisoner.”
Wow. I shook my head, stood, and then reached down to help her to her feet. “Maybe next time, do us a solid, and let us stand outside when you blow shit up. Generally, exploding your friends won’t endear them to you. What were you thinking?”
She brushed the dirt off her pants. ‘I told you. I couldn’t feel it. I thought it wouldn’t go far enough to turn anyone.”
“Except you,” I pointed out. “You barely made it out of the room. If you hadn’t closed the door, you’d be dead.
Fin came running up, along with Echo, as Fin had identified him before we left. “What the hell happened? Is everyone okay?” He said everyone but his eyes stayed on me, scanning every inch of my body for injury.
“It’s fine. Melinda here just decided to do a little redecorating. You did say this was her house now. She’d inherited it.”
He looked confused, about as confused as I felt, I was sure. “Of course, but...”
I waved him away. “Let’s go find an unexploded room to get this deal finished.”
Echo turned his attention to me now. Oh yeah, definitely a mage. A strong one by the buzz I felt coming off him. “And you are?”
“Zoey.”
“Is that it?”
“It’s all you need to know. Follow me. We’ll see if we can find somewhere quiet to work.” I stopped Fin as he moved to follow too. “Although, you might need to head off the fire trucks if your alarm system is active.”
I pointed to Hawk. “Will you come with us? I’d hate to subject anyone else to my perverse magic.”
The sizzle of Fin’s anger shot through me, and I let him feel mine in return. Two can play at that game. When he started to follow again, I stopped and glared. “I’m a big girl. I don’t need you to babysit me through this. Besides, when I do the real thing, you won’t be able to hold my hand either.”
Hurt chased the anger away, but I refused to feel bad about what I’d said. I met his eyes a moment longer and then marched down the hall with Hawk and the new guy on my heels.
The library looked relatively untouched, so we entered, and I settled down on the floor. “Did you bring the contract?”
He twisted to tug some paper out of his back pocket and then extended it to me. “I think you’ll find it’s pretty standard.”
“You don’t know a thing about me, or my magic, so if you don’t mind, I’ll read and adjust it for myself.” I unfolded the paper and read the few lines there. It seemed standard from my albeit limited experience with magical contracts.
I heaved off the floor to find a pen and make a correction. Once I added my line, I handed it back to him to read and sign if he agreed to the change.
After reading, his gaze snapped to mine. “Are you taking this seriously?”
“Of course, why would I bother fixing it if I weren’t.”
He waved the pages, his down-home country boy look only adding to his appeal. “This is bullshit. No one can have both mage and fae powers.”
“Well then call me no one and sign the damn thing. I don’t know if they will come up when we are in the sending, but I didn’t want to take the risk.”
Instead of questioning me further, he slid his eyes to Hawk. Which just pissed me the hell off. I snapped in his face. “He’s not my keeper and doesn’t know a damn thing more about my magic than you do. If you want your money, sign the form or get the hell out.”
After a minute of studying me, he took the page, scribbled his name, and handed it to me to sign as well. That taken care of, he tucked the page back into his pocket and sat down on the floor. “Right here?”
I nodded and lay down on the floor next to him. It felt strangely intimate, and not in a way I felt comfortable with. “If you try anything, Hawk will step on you. And he’s heavy.”
Hawk made a snort from his position a few feet away. Having him here made me feel more in control, like I could do this. I closed my eyes and called my magic to me. It came, easily, readily, as if it had been waiting impatiently for me to summon it up again.
And then I pictured the man lying next to me. I feared getting dragged into his head, so I resisted the pull, and gently tugged whatever I felt coming off him toward me. He also resisted, but after a few moments, let go and we fell into a sending.
I opened my eyes and peered around. Shit. I hadn’t even felt like I’d been given time to plan out the environment here.
Echo made a noise from beside me and then shot up to his feet. “Where are we?”
I circled the desk and plopped into the overstuffed chair. “The Chief’s office at the Bounty Hunter headquarters.”
The look he gave me forced a laugh out of me before I could stop it.
“Why?” he asked.
“Good question. How do you make your brain pick the environment of one of these?”
He seemed relieved we’d focused on something he could answer. “It’s difficult. Most of the time the mage just lets the brain supply something. But that can result in sometimes personal details being revealed.”
I watched him carefully as he started to inspect the room, looking at the books and artifacts he’d collected over the years.
“But you can control it if you’re strong enough.”
“It’s not about magic, it’s about mental fortitude. Like a muscle.”
Shit. Then Esteban had years of brain weightlifting on me.
“Do you know how to keep someone in a sending if they don’t want to be there?”
He continued his perusal and I scanned the desk to make sure nothing lay there that might compromise any of the hunters. All the papers were blank, like I’d built the room as a stage set in my brain.
“I don’t suggest it. Any mage trapped that way will try to claw his way out. Sometimes he might win.” His gaze over his shoulder turned assessing. “Why are you asking? What’s all this for?”
I didn’t answer his question but pressed on with my own. “But there is a way to do it right. I’ve seen it done before I just didn’t know the mechanics of it.”
“It’s actually quite simple. The mage controlling the sending can do some lower-level magic, forcing the mage’s magic to put out a constant stream of power to counteract it. While it’s occupied in such a way, it’s unable to do anything else. You wouldn’t be able to shield or drag yourself out of the sending.”
Oh now he had my attention. “Does it work the same way for fae magic?”
He stopped moving around the room and stared into my eyes. “Fae can’t send. They don’t do that.”
“But a mage with access to mage and fae magic? How might she protect her fae magic inside this sending? Keep it from being eliminated?”
I waited to see what he would say. Some part of me trusted him. Maybe because once upon a time, The Captain had trusted him. But the rational part of my brain so recently hurt by Fin’s revelation didn’t want anything to do with another person I might have to throw my protection around.
“I’ll be honest. I don’t know. Our magics work differently. I’d say ask a fae how they stay safe mentally when they do their version of vision sharing. It’s not as invasive as a sending but Fin might be able to tell you how it’s done.”
I shoved out of the chair and crossed the room. “Great. Do you mind if I practice the magic trapping thing a time or two? I signed the contract, and I have more magic than I even want in my life, so I have no will to steal yours.”
He nodded and I did as he’d instructed, sending a feeler out to him with my power. His own power connected and shot back a nasty recoil. I flinched hard.
“Sorry. I have pretty strong natural defenses.”
Then as quickly as I felt his magic connect to mine it dwindled to a low level hum. “Can you feel it? Can you use your power while I’m doing this?”
“Nope. I got nothing. You did it just fine.”
I released him as his fists clenched. The man grew testy fast. Although, with mage culture, I supposed what he’d just done might have been the equivalent of unprotected sex.
“Let’s wake up and then we can talk about this,” I offered.
I barely closed my eyes before I opened them again and stared up at the ceiling. It only felt like minutes had passed but the light in the room was different now.
“How long were we out?” I asked.
Hawk checked his watch from where he sat by the empty fireplace. “An hour maybe? Long enough for the fire department to arrive and start on the other wing.
Echo sat up rubbing his forehead. “I’m not sure what you did there but I’ve got a whopping headache and craving for single malt scotch.”
It pleased me he didn’t realize I’d been wearing Melinda’s mental amplifiers. If he didn’t notice, maybe Esteban wouldn’t either. Unless he’d seen them before, or Melinda had made something similar for him to use on his own sendings.
Instead of standing, I lay back down on the dusty floor and stretched out again. “Thank you for helping me. And I’m sorry for your loss. Harlan was my friend too.”
He didn’t say anything and he didn’t need to. Grief wasn’t something that needed to be shared, only acknowledged.
“How long were you two together?”
“Twenty years.”
I sat up and gaped at him. “That’s a long time to spend together to break up.”
“To people who live longer than humans, it’s not much comparatively.”
“Do you mind me asking what happened? I know he had feelings for Fin. He wasn’t very happy when it turned out Fin and I mated.”
His eyes shot to mine, the pain there fresh enough to see clearly. “You mated to Fin? But you’re a mage.”
“Half,” I corrected. “Don’t worry, it confuses everyone who finds out.”
He cleared his throat a moment later. “It wasn’t Fin that broke us up. Actually, Harlan found a mate of his own. It was by accident, and once a mage mates he doesn’t want anyone else, not in the same soul-eating way it’s supposed to feel like.”
“But he never mentioned having a mate before.”
Echo cast his gaze around, no doubt trying to find a safe place to look as he thought things through. “I always assumed it was Fin, or someone they knew together, or else why stay here with him all this time?”
“So, what happens if your mate rejects you?” I swallowed hard, refusing to show how just speaking the words affected me.
“It’s not the same for fae. They can waste away from a mate's rejection. For mages it can screw with your power, suck it down in the dark hole your soul becomes without its other half. A rejected pair can live on for years, but they will never have the same level of strength, the same punch.”
It made sense considering most mage craft revolved around stealing other’s abilities. Why wouldn’t a mate bond be the same for them?
I gasped. Did that mean I’d been stealing Fin’s power since we accepted our mate bond. My fae side seemed to dominate in our pairing, leaning toward how fae mated, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a dark mage belly underneath sucking the kick out of his power.
I jumped up and raced out the door, intent on finding Fin. It didn’t take long through the bond, and I threw myself at him once I spotted him standing on the driveway.
“What is it?” He asked as he cupped the back of my head. “Did he hurt you, are you okay?”
I pressed my hand to his chest trying to feel the bond between us, pick it apart to inspect the ropes within. It wasn’t easy. Mostly before I feared looking for it.
But there, dark and glittering under the fae power that dominated our bond was a shining thread of mage magic.
I released my power, the sight into the bond, and jerked from his grip. “We can’t be mated anymore. I’m sorry.”
I’d rather die than subject him to something he’d spent his entire life fighting.