The Bone Coven Chronicles: The Complete Series Page 24
I did know, a thought that sent a pang through my heart. Despite all the terrible things I’d heard about shadow mages, I wanted nothing more than to learn more about my powers. Not to use them, because I would never ever use them again, but to understand how to control them. Grams was the only person in my world who I could turn to about that, to find answers to all the questions I had. But, even though we’d broken her curse, she was still as sick as she’d been before. Maybe even more so. She didn’t have the strength or the stamina to truly teach me about my magic.
“So, you’re in contact with these people?” Dorian asked.
“In a way.” Laura cocked her head. “Why?”
“Take me to them.”
Chapter 3
“So, give me a briefing on these mages,” Dorian said when he cut the engine. The three of us had piled into his black sports car, sealed in by tinted windows. The trek from Blue Moon Tavern to the home of the blood mages had only taken fifteen minutes. I could tell by the pink that dotted her cheeks that Laura hadn’t had time to wrap her head around the fact she was about to meet witches and warlocks from her own coven.
She nibbled on her lip and stared up at the building, a small squat industrial space that was home to a tattoo parlor on the ground floor. Several of the mages lived together in a loft above it, running the place in between the practicing of spells. Frankly, it sounded like a pretty cool set-up and a hell of a lot better than the stiff and formal ways of the Bone Coven. All ceremony and no action, I always said. Of course, after most of the Bone Coven’s council had been killed in September’s vampire attack, all that ponce and circumstance had gone right out the window.
“Well, I don’t know all that much,” Laura said. “There’s ten of them. Well, nine now, I guess. Most are relatively young. Probably around our age and up to mid-thirties. I think only one or two are over forty.”
“So, some of them would be mages who didn’t fight in the demon war,” Dorian said with a nod. “Makes sense. Do they know much about their powers? Are they training? And are they in contact with the headquarters in Scotland?”
“Question overload,” Laura said, holding up her hands in a laugh. “As far as I know, they do train, but we didn’t get into how far they’ve developed their magic. And yes, they’re in contact with the headquarters, but they operate as their own unit.”
“So, they live by the Blood Coven’s laws, but they don’t have to check in with them every time they want to make a decision?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s how it works. For example, if one of them were to get killed, they would investigate it since they’re here. Scotland would have nothing to do with it.”
“Well, then it sounds like we’ve come to the right place.” Dorian tapped the steering wheel and stared up at the mages’ floor. Dim lights shone through gauzy curtains, highlighting the silhouettes of those inside. “They’re home, and they’re awake. Laura, I’m going to need you to come with me and perform introductions. Zoe, I need you by my side as backup.”
My stomach warmed as I tapped the blade hidden in my sheath. “I’ve always got your back.”
The door swung open to reveal a dark-haired witch holding a dagger. She frowned out at the three of us, the expression emphasizing the deep lines around her eyes and mouth. A light breeze blew past us, and the witch’s long flowing dress billowed behind her as her hair fluttered around delicate shoulders. But despite her flowing locks and her small frame, one look into her piercing eyes told me this was a witch not to mess with.
Laura stuck out her hand and shot the woman a smile. “Hi, I’m Laura. I’m the witch who has spoken to a few of you online.”
“Laura.” The woman’s face brightened, and she shoved her dagger into the sheath that circled her waist. “You finally decided to come and pay us a visit. Does this mean you’re considering joining us? We could use another mage here in Boston.”
Laura flicked her eyes my way. “No, not exactly. We came about something else…”
“My name is Dorian Kostas,” Dorian said as he stepped forward, his tone all business. “I’m an Enforcer for the Bone Coven. Unfortunately, I have some bad news to share with you all this evening. Would it be fine if we came inside? It’s not a discussion for the streets.”
A hint of alarm played across the woman’s soft features. “Does this have something to do with Ivan Wagner?”
“Why would this be about Wagner?” Dorian frowned.
The woman shook her head and shot Laura a glittering stare. “I knew we shouldn’t tell you where we lived. I told the others you’d just sell us out to the Bone Coven. Look, Wagner is one of us, and he didn’t do anything wrong. None of us will say a damn word against the guy, so you’re wasting your time here. If there’s anything else you need, you’ll have to take it up with someone else. I’m sorry I won’t be able to help you any more than that.”
She began to shut the door, but Laura stuck out her foot to block it from closing. “Wait. That’s actually not what we’re here to talk to you about. Please let us come in. It’s important. I swear on the blood of our enemies.”
I frowned at the last bit, but I didn’t dare say a word. Over time, the covens had adopted all manner of quotes and sayings, and they tended to be on the creepier end of the spectrum. May the bones ever give you power. My power will crush the bones of my enemies. That kind of thing. Laura must have picked up some of the Blood Coven’s sayings along the way, and using them now might convince this woman that we meant no harm.
The witch stared long and hard before letting out a tired sigh. “Fine. Come on in. If it’s that important, then I’m sure the Blood Hunter Coven would like to hear what you have to say.”
The Blood Hunter Coven? I glanced at Laura, who just shrugged. It seemed this splinter coven had forged forward on their own even more than they’d let on if they’d come up with a unique name for themselves. How far did this extend? Was it just the ten of them here or were there more? And what did that mean for their powers?
Once upstairs, Dorian clasped his hands together under his chin. We stood before a cluster of five mages who sat curled up on couches scattered throughout the large space that had been decorated in a minimalistic style of sleek white and splashes of bright red. Only half their number lived in this loft while the other half lived on their own in the city. Kind of like this was their council, and the rest were mere members. Despite their insistence that they weren’t like other covens, they’d adopted most of the inner workings and structure that the others had.
“Right,” Dorian began, addressing the woman who had answered the door. We now knew her name was Piper Maddow, and she called herself the Magister of the Blood Hunter Coven. “There’s no easy way to put this. Tonight, a blood witch was discovered murdered in the alley behind Blue Moon Tavern, the bar where Laura and Zoe work.”
A ripple went through the mages. Audible gasps and cries of alarm that felt like stab after stab in my heart. No one should ever have to hear this kind of news, especially coming from a group of people who were one wrong move away from becoming an enemy.
“It must have been Sylvia,” one of the warlocks said. He stood from the couch and began pacing, his bare feet slapping against the concrete floor. “She’s been missing since last night. We were supposed to go out for a few drinks at Descent, and she never showed. I thought maybe she’d met up with someone. A date or something, but…” His voice choked as the last word cut off.
“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Magister Piper said, holding her hands up as a rush of whispers filled the air. After the room quietened down, she turned back to us. “You said you found this mage in the alley behind a bar. Can you take me to her body?”
“Well, actually.” Dorian cleared his throat. “We brought her to you. After much discussion, we decided that we couldn’t run the risk of human law enforcement interfering. There were a lot of witnesses. It was only a matter of time until they showed up at the crime scene.”
No one truly knew how humans would react until it happened, and the council was determined to keep us out of the spotlight.
Because of that, we sometimes had to take care of our own crime scenes way before the cops could get there first. They would still likely swing by the alley, but there would be no body for them to find. If they decided to question us about what happened, we had a cover story planned. Worst case scenario, we could make a call to the FBI agents who knew about our existence and have them put a stop to any investigation that might arise.
“You actually brought the mage here? To us?” Magister Piper pressed a hand to her throat and glanced at each of us in turn. “I didn’t think bone mages had that kind of thoughtfulness in them. Usually, you all are so…” She wrinkled her nose. “Dry and brittle, just like your beloved bones.”
“Hey, now,” I said, cutting in to defend the coven. Even though I sported a shadow mark underneath the illusion on my neck, bone mages were my people. And, I wouldn’t stand to hear them spoken about like that. “We’ve come here on good faith at the risk of our own necks. If we’d been caught moving the body, we could have gotten in a hell of a lot of trouble. The kind of trouble the council might not have been able to fix. Maybe eventually, but not right away.”
Magister Piper’s eyes sparked with something I couldn’t read, something that looked a hell of a lot like defiance. “I’m sorry. Thank you for bringing her here. Can we see her, please?”
“Yes, of course,” Dorian said. “But let’s just keep it to one of you until we bring the body upstairs. Otherwise, we might look far too suspicious, and we don’t want to catch the wrong sort of attention, if you know what I mean.”
In other words, we didn’t want someone to see us clustered around a body in the trunk of a car and call the cops.
We led their de facto leader outside and popped the truck. As soon as she saw the body, a loud gasp popped from her throat. I swallowed hard and stared at the ground. No one should have to go through this. I’d seen the glassy eyes of my parents when they’d died, and it was an image that was forever burned into my mind. Sometimes, I still had nightmares about their vacant stares, their pale, cold skin, their breathless lungs.
“That is Sylvia. Whatever did this wasn’t a human.” Magister Piper closed her eyes and turned away from Sylvia’s body. “Or, if it was, it was done for supernatural reasons. There’s no way this was a random killing.”
Dorian gave a somber nod. “I agree. That’s why I thought it best to bring this to you instead of letting human law enforcement take care of it. You’ll want to investigate the murder and find the killer, I imagine.”
“We don’t have the resources for some kind of investigation,” Piper said. “And I personally wouldn’t have a clue where to start. We’re a splinter group of the main coven. More like an informal club than an official corporation. Yes, I’ve given us a name, but that’s all we have right now.”
Dorian cast a quick glance at me, and I nodded, knowing the question he passed through his eyes. Sometimes, we were able to do that. Back when we’d fought the vampires, he’d fed me some of his blood to heal a wound. At the time, the blood had created a temporary bond between us, one that had lasted merely hours. But, somehow, a part of that bond had stuck around, appearing in momentary flashes just like now.
“In that case,” I said. “Dorian and I would like to offer you our services. We’re Enforcers for the Bone Coven. While we don’t have the resources that Enforcers once had, mostly because the vampires burned them down a few months ago, we’re a pretty good team when it comes to finding murderers.”
“So we’ve heard,” Magister Piper said.
Great. My reputation proceeded me. I wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing.
“Will Laura be helping you?” she asked. “I’d feel a lot better about this if a blood witch was involved.”
Dorian opened his mouth to speak, but I cut in before he could say no. “Of course she’ll be helping us. Isn’t that right, Laura?”
She lifted her chin and nodded. “Damn straight.”
Chapter 4
After Dorian dropped Laura off at her apartment, he drove me home. When he parked at the curb outside of my building, he turned to me and gave me one of his piercing stares, the kind where I wasn’t entirely sure just how much of my soul he could see. Sometimes, it felt like he could read every single part of me, all of my wishes and desires and fears, no matter how hard I tried to keep them to myself.
“I know what you’re going to say.” Sighing, I dropped my head against the leather seat. “Laura isn’t trained so she’ll be a liability in the investigation. And the council will never go for it.”
“On the contrary.” His lips quirked when I popped up my head at his words. “I think she’s the perfect advisor for the job. She has a unique insight into the victim, and her powers could be useful, even if they aren’t fully developed yet.”
My eyes practically bugged out of my head. “Am I hearing this right? Is Dorian Kostas actually telling me that I had a good idea?”
“Obviously, she won’t be going with us into any high-risk situations.” He rubbed his hand against his thick hair, a move I’d realized he only did when thinking carefully about a situation. “We can consult her if we have questions, and she can come with us if we’re going to interview a potential witness. But she should stay at home if we get a lead on the killer’s whereabouts.”
“Good luck convincing her of that,” I said with a laugh. “You think I’m stubborn? Laura is just as bad.”
“Great,” he said with an eye-roll, though he looked far more amused than annoyed. “Now, I have to deal with two of you.”
“Get used to it.” I cracked a grin. “She might not be a member of the Bone Coven, but she’s not going anywhere. You won’t be able to get rid of us if you tried.”
“Have you told her yet?” Even though his words were vague, I knew exactly what he meant. He wanted to know if I’d told my best friend the truth about my powers. The answer was, I hadn’t. Not yet. I’d been waiting for the right time, and it still hadn’t come. I didn’t know what I was waiting for. Some sign in the sky to tell me everything would turn out okay. The last thing I wanted to do was lose Laura because of something I couldn’t control, but any sane witch would want to put as much distance between us as possible.
“No,” I said, slouching into the smooth leather seat. “I just keep imagining the look on her face when she finds out I have black magic running through my veins.”
“She might be surprised, but she loves you, Zoe.” Dorian clenched his jaw and glanced away. “What I would give to have something like that.”
You have me, I wanted to say, but I couldn’t. The tension between us had been intensifying, to say the least. Ever since he’d almost kissed me in Vincent’s house, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about his lips, his arms, or his cold skin. But I was pretty sure he didn’t feel the same, and I didn’t want to put our working partnership at risk because I couldn’t keep my tongue in my mouth.
“You’ve never really said much about your past,” I said, shifting on my seat to face him. “What were your friends like back in Europe?”
“If I told you about my friends, I’d have to tell you how I got cursed.” Dorian gripped the steering wheel tight in his hands. “And as much as I trust you, Zoe, that’s one conversation I’m not quite ready to have.”
Silence descended between us. In the three months that I’d known him, Dorian
had barely spoken a word about his past. I was dying to know what he’d been like, what he’d been through, how he’d become the way he was. I knew there were things he’d done that he regretted, but I also knew it went far deeper than that. There were scars under his perfect persona, ones that hadn’t yet fully healed. And talking about them would only pick at the scab.
“Well, just so you know, I’m here when you’re ready,” I said with a smile and gave him a light, friendly punch in the arm. Mostly because the urge to kiss him was so overwhelming that making a stupid joke of the moment was the only thing I could do. “Does that sound cheesy?”
“It sounds pretty fucking cheesy.” He laughed and reached over to tweak his thumb against my cheek. “But it’s also really damn endearing. You, Zoe Bennett, are a good egg.”
My face went hot, and my muscles went tight. I yearned to hold his hand in place, to feel his fingers whispering across my skin. But just as quickly as he’d touched me, he pulled away, something outside the car catching his eye. Leaning sideways, he looked up at my apartment and pointed at the living room window where the light had just gone out.
“Looks like your Grams made it to bed, so you don’t need to go up there just yet,” Dorian said as he leaned across me, his chest brushing against mine. The scent of musk, leather, and pine enveloped me, my lungs going into shock. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t blink. Dorian was so close that I felt the whisper of his breath on my skin. He smiled and pushed down the passenger door lock. “Why don’t we have a quick training session back at my place? See if we can get you practicing a shadow spell this time?”
In any other situation, I would be thrilled down to my toes. Training with Dorian was one of the highlights of my week, and I welcomed any opportunity to shove another session into our busy days, especially when it involved just the two of us in his apartment. Alone. Together. Not that anything ever happened. His bed was still as untouched as it always was.