Prince of Blood and Thunder_An Urban Fantasy Novel Read online

  “Catch!” I called, and Maddocks twirled one hand, using his magic to catch the tiny silver blade and send it whipping through the air. It tore through the werewolf’s throat in a flurry of glimmering motion. Silver fire erupted from the wound as the werewolf collapsed backward, fear filling his amber eyes as he gripped his ruined throat.

  “Never expected to die, eh?” Maddocks said as bubbling, boiling blood spilled through the werewolf’s fingers. “That’s the problem with you wolves. You’re too used to playing with Godmode on.”

  A gurgling cry tore from the werewolf’s maw as his hands caught fire and burst into flame. He flopped backward, and as flames started to engulf the creature, a horrible thought shot through me. What if the hospital caught fire? I mean, sure, most stone walls weren’t super flammable, but this was also magic fire. I had no idea what it could do to the inside of a relatively normal hospital with its magical defenses down.

  “Fire!” I cried, gesturing about the room and hoping it wasn’t particularly flammable.

  A look of intense concentration filled Maddocks features moments before a piece of metal tore from the ceiling, wrapped around the werewolf like a steel hand and flung him across the thirty foot hall. He hit the window on the far side of the hallway with an earsplitting crash and disappeared. A moment later, the familiar wet thud of meat striking stone filled my ears

  “That was pretty bad ass,” I said, swallowing hard.

  “Thanks,” he said, handing me the knife. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  “Thanks yourself. You got rid of the nullifier.” I took my dagger and slipped it back under my sleeve. Part of me wanted to use my lightsaber, but in a place like this, there just wasn’t enough room to swing it effectively. No, what I needed about now was that goddamned BFG. I’d like to see those bastards nullify that.

  “I want to know how they got nullifiers,” Maddocks said, edging forward with the Mossberg in hand. It probably should have made me feel better, but I’d just seen a werewolf shrug off two shotgun blasts to the face in the time it’d take me to brush my teeth, and let’s just say, I don’t really do as thorough of a job on that as I should. “There’s got to be a mage helping them.”

  “Obviously they found a mage willing to kill a ton of his friends to help werewolves,” I said, shaking my head. While I didn’t want to believe there’d be someone like that, I was willing to bet there definitely was. Still, part of me almost hoped that mage had been motivated by simple greed. If he had, say, married a werewolf that had been killed by my brother’s ritual, then all bets were off.

  “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at what money buys, and the werewolves have a lot of money.” Maddocks shrugged at me as he moved down the hallway until he reached door 7A. He stood in front of it and sucked in a deep breath.

  “Is that her room?” I asked, walking up to him. My nerves were shot and my heart was racing. Every part of me was on edge as he reached out toward the door, his hand hovering next to the knob. Instead of opening the door, he just turned and looked at me, eyes roaming over my body without actually seeing me.

  “Right now she’s like Schrodinger’s cat. She’s not dead, not alive.” He took another breath and tried to smile. “In some respects it’s almost better this way.”

  Part of me wanted to yell at him to just open the door and pull off the Band-Aid. Only I knew why he hadn’t. It was the same reason I hadn’t started kicking open doors yet, trying to find Justin. I could have pushed open the other doors in the hallway trying to find him. But I didn’t.

  Granted part of it was because I was worried about opening random doors and finding werewolves, but I was more worried I’d find mages who’d been murdered. I guess at the end of the days we were both cowards, and as much as misery loves company, cowards don’t.

  “If you want me to look for you, I will,” I said, reaching out and touching his shoulder lightly with my right hand. He was still looking past me. Still not seeing me. I’d have liked to say I was being nice, but mostly, I was stalling.

  “No. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do, even when it’s the hardest thing in the world.” He turned away from me and opened the door. The smell of blood and urine hit me full force followed by a scream that shattered me within my core. I swallowed hard and took a step forward, but before I could reach the door, a gunshot exploded through the air.

  I jumped backward as the sound of a body hit the floor and a pool of crimson started to spread out from the tile under the doorway. Part of me wanted to look, to make sure what I thought had happened had in fact just happened, but as the door swung shut on its automatic closer, I didn’t do that.

  Instead, I pulled my sweatshirt tight around me and made my way past the room. Guess Schrodinger had that going for him, sometimes not knowing was better than knowing, that was for damned sure.

  Still, I couldn’t think about that. No. I had to know if Justin was okay because at the end of the day, knowing was half the battle. At least, that’s what I told myself as I called upon my power and reached out to the sweatshirt I was wearing. It had been Justin’s and because of that, I could use it to find him. Slowly, I reached back into the memories of the shirt, to the moment he’d given it to me, and caught hold of a vibrant golden thread that latched the sweatshirt to him. As I mentally followed that thread back to the present, I found it leading to room 10B.

  “Please don’t be dead,” I whispered, giving voice to my fear as my heart ached in my chest. Everything in me wanted to flip my switch, but I couldn’t. If I did, I’d never forgive myself. I had to experience this. I would not be a coward.

  I padded across the hallway, one hand gripping the hilt of my lightsaber so tightly it physically hurt. As I approached the door, I sucked in a deep breath and tried to pretend I was made of steel and sterner stuff. I wasn’t, but at the same time, perceptions were realities forged in the aftermath.

  “If you’re already dead, I’m going to kill a whole lot more of your kind, so please don’t be dead,” I murmured more to myself than to the empty hallway as I pushed open the door.

  There was nothing inside. Nothing at all save an empty, neatly folded bed. It looked like the room had just been cleaned, and the bare walls and clean floors stared flatly back at me as I tried to figure out what to do. Had I really just come all this way for nothing?

  “What the frak?” I asked because I was so shocked at the sight of the empty room, I almost didn’t know how to process it. I took a step inside, and as I did, it felt like stepping through warm Jell-O. Desert heat slammed me in the face and little cotton candy pink sparks danced across my flesh as I crossed the threshold into the room.

  The illusion evaporated, and I found myself staring at Sheev kneeling over Justin’s bed, head bowed with his hands clasped around an ornate crucifix. My brother stood a few feet behind them, pacing back and forth with an M16 that was probably loaded with silver bullets. Given the nullifiers’ effects, I wasn’t sure it’d be effective, but it was probably better than nothing. Barely.

  “Thanks for breaking the illusion, Annie,” Tina snapped, leaping to her feet. She had been sitting in an uncomfortable looking folding chair, her brow marred by sweat. “It took all my power to keep it in place with the nullifiers around. I’m not strong enough to do it again!”

  “Um… sorry?” I offered as realization settled over me. Tina had used an illusion to make it seem like the room was empty, and it’d probably saved all their lives. The werewolves had probably opened the door during their sweep, saw nothing inside, and moved on. It was smart.

  “Don’t be sorry, just shut the door,” she growled, shaking her head as she stomped past me and pushed the door closed. It probably wouldn’t matter now that I’d shattered the illusion. I wasn’t sure how good her spell had been, but I was guessing it’d kept the wolves from sniffing them out. Now that wouldn’t be the case, so as soon as they passed by the door they’d know we were here, and that was assuming they didn’t just follow their noses to m
e.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said, moving to Justin’s bed. He was still unconscious, and his skin looked paler than before. His breathing was shallow and his greasy hair was matted to his sweaty forehead. Whatever was happening to him was bad. Was this what happened when werewolves gave away most of their magic? If so, had Justin known this would happen when he did it?

  To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to that particular question because that meant he was either really brave, really stupid, or both.

  “How do you propose we do that?” Tina asked, glaring at me. “We can’t move until your boyfriend wakes up.”

  “Why can’t we move him?” I asked, ignoring her jab about him being my boyfriend because as much as I wanted that to be true, I just didn’t know. As I glanced from Tina’s angry red face to my brother for support, he merely put his hands up in an unhelpful “I surrender” gesture.

  “We will leave when he is healed and not a moment before,” Sheev said, looking up at me over the edge of his gilded crucifix. “It will not be long now.”

  “Look, you looney toon. Unless you haven’t noticed, it’s a warzone outside,” I said, taking a deep breath. “It took me and a small army of powerful mages to make it across the goddamned town. They’re all dead now. We need to leave. We don’t have time to wait.”

  “You will wait, Annie,” Sheev said, shrugging off my comment. “He will awaken soon. Until then do not worry. Our enemies may be powerful, but they pale in strength to our Lord.”

  I swear, a blood vessel nearly burst in my forehead as I glared at him. Behind my old master, Gordon rolled his eyes. Yeah, I probably haven’t mentioned it, but Sheev fancies himself Elijah, Moses, and Jesus all rolled into one package. It’s infuriating.

  “And what will you do when they come in here with nullifiers because the last two I fought had those.” I stopped mid-sentence and stood there for a moment as rage threatened to wash over me. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get Justin and escape before we all died. Getting angry wouldn’t help that because while I wasn’t sure what the extent of Tina’s powers were, I knew I didn’t have the strength to go up against Sheev. He was way too strong for me to fight head on…

  “I will have faith, Annie. You should as well,” Sheev replied, leaning back over Justin and shutting his eyes. “God always gives us the tools we need. It is up to us to find and use them.”

  “Sorry, fresh out of faith,” I said, glancing at Gordon. “Do you have a way out of here?”

  “Yes,” he replied, turning and looking out the window. I could see smoke rising in the distance. Was the city burning? It seemed crazy because we were miles under the ocean, but hey, lots of firsts today.

  “Care to tell me what your plan of escape is?” I asked, right before the door behind me tore off its hinges and smashed into my back with enough force to knock me to the ground.

  Breath exploded from my lungs as the weight of the werewolf we’d buried under the front of the hospital stepped on top of the door, pinning me to the floor.

  8

  “Animators!” the werewolf sneered like someone might say a racial slur. “Give me the prince, and I’ll kill you quickly.”

  I tried to throw him off of me, but it was useless, and as I reached for my magic to power up my lightsaber and cut my way out, I felt the press of the nullifier on my senses. It tore away my magic and left me lying there cold and empty.

  “Or you could die,” Gordon said, and I heard his M16 fire. The weight on my back lifted a second before the burst was cut off by the sound of breaking glass.

  I pushed the door off of me and looked across the room. The wolf stood beside a broken window with a smirk on his face. There was no trace of Gordon save a few spent silver casings on the ground. Had he been thrown through this window? I really hoped not because we were on the third floor, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure where else he could be.

  As I tried to get to my feet, the force of the werewolf’s nullifier was so strong I could hardly think.

  Evidently that didn’t bother Tina, though. With a flick of her wrist, blue energy blades burst to life in the air in front of her. The light of the nullifier pulsed and the blades weakened slightly as they cut a vicious path through the air. How was she keeping them up and going with the nullifier? Was she truly that strong?

  With a cry of rage, Tina whipped her hands through the air, causing the blades to tear into the werewolf’s chest, but like always, the creature ignored the attacks as he charged.

  “The power of vengeance pulses through me, little mage! Your magic is meaningless to me!” the werewolf cried, reaching through the cutting blades and seizing Tina by the wrist.

  As soon as he touched her, the nullifier pulsed like the sun and the energy blades evaporated. Not that it mattered because he pivoted on his heel and launched her through the broken window. She went sprawling through the air as the wolf turned and fixed his amber eyes upon me.

  “Care to try your luck, Annie? Or will you let me take the prince?” He took a step toward me, ignoring Sheev who was still kneeling over Justin, mumbling in Latin. “I almost want you to try and stop me. Just give me an excuse. I double dog dare you.” His tongue flicked out across his fangs as his claws scraped across the cheap linoleum.

  “Stop,” Sheev said, and the word reverberated through the room like thunder. My heart actually slowed in my chest, and as the werewolf turned to look at my master, the light on his nullifier pulsed once and exploded into a flare of golden flames.

  The werewolf cried in alarm, trying to pull the burning charm off his torso, but as he did, my master stood and looked at him. The look on his face reminded me of the old guy who always greeted me at Walmart. Kind, compassionate, and just doing the job because he was bored but liked to be around people.

  “You should not be here, werewolf. This is not your place.” Sheev smiled congenially. “Please leave. If you do, I promise you safe passage.”

  “What did you do!” the werewolf snarled, tossing the flaming charm onto the ground and taking a menacing step forward. “How did you overload the nullifier? That’s not possible.”

  He took another step towards Sheev, and as he did, I let the silver dagger slip into my hand. My power was returning, and in a second I’d be able to animate it and give him a good old fashioned trip to Hell, no good intentions required.

  Still, like the wolf, I was curious as to how Sheev had overpowered the nullifier. I’d never heard of it happening before, but then again, my master collected secrets like Justin collected comic books.

  “I will not repeat myself,” Sheev said, and his voice had taken on the hard edge of fire and brimstone. I exhaled in surprise as the wolf’s knees started to shake. “If you do not leave this instant, I will call down the fires of Heaven and smite you where you stand. Then you will know the power of our Lord! Is that truly what you wish?”

  The werewolf’s muscles tensed as he considered, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. The werewolf was between a rock and a hard place. Here he was faced with Sheev who sounded like a loon but had blown out his nullifier. On the other hand, if he retreated, Alabaster would have his head on a silver platter, irony notwithstanding.

  “Watch out!” I called, leaping to my feet as the werewolf pounced.

  The shifter got maybe six inches off the floor when Sheev bowed his head in prayer and mumbled something in Hebrew that caused the sky above to rumble. Golden fire erupted from the sky even though we were a thousand miles under the ocean. It burned a cylindrical hole through the ceiling and engulfed the werewolf in searing, burning flame.

  The heat sucked the oxygen from my lungs as I covered my face with my arm and staggered backward. It was like being next to a blast furnace. The werewolf was less lucky. While I’d never seen someone literally burned to fucking ash before, I had now. And it was every bit as terrible as I’d thought it would be.

  When the flames dissipated a second later, there wasn’t enough left of the w
erewolf to fill a thimble. The even crazier thing was that none of the hospital had burned, aside from the hole in the ceiling from when the all-consuming fire had come down from Heaven.

  “How did you do that?” I asked, my mouth agape as Sheev settled to his knees over Justin and raised one hand to the prince like nothing had happened. Golden light streamed from his fingers as he mumbled something else, this time in ancient Greek.

  While Sheev had always been a religious zealot, I’d never seen him throw around that much power. Back when I’d thought the werewolves had gotten him, all his magic combined wouldn’t have been enough to do what he’d just done. He’d gotten way stronger, and even though I hated him more than ever for what he’d done to me, I wanted to know how.

  I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I knew part of his power was because of whatever it was in Atlantis that seemed to enhance magic. Even Madisyn had been ridiculously strong for her age.

  As I opened my eyes, Sheev looked me up and down. I’d say it was cold and appraising, but since his eyes were blank and opaque it was hard to explain. Even still, his gaze caused me to shiver, despite my best efforts not to do so.

  “I did nothing, Annie. The Lord has done it all. He smites his enemies. I am merely his tool.” Sheev smiled kindly at me in the same patronizing way he had when I was just a kid and hadn’t been able to grasp some complex theory he understood so well it might as well have been two plus two.

  “I’ve never seen an Animator do something like that,” I replied, ignoring his God mumbo jumbo like I always had. He might play it outwardly or whatever, but he was still the same guy who had whipped me for daring to steal a piece of candy when I was a kid. Those two images didn’t jive in my head, and they never would.

  “You have been gone a long time,” Sheev replied as Tina’s hand appeared on the frame of the window. She slowly hauled herself inside, and as she did, she shot me a look.