Touch the Dark

  Some mages are inherently stronger than others, but most use some kind of cheat to enhance their abilities. Most have talismans to gather natural energy like batteries over long periods, to be disbursed at the mage’s command, like Billy’s necklace. Some form links with other magic users that allow them to borrow power in time of need, like the Silver Circle. Others enlist as allies magical creatures who can absorb natural energy better than they. I didn’t know what Pritkin might be using besides his own power, but it didn’t appear to be working too well. His shields glowed a bit brighter after the symbol touched them but almost immediately dulled again. Something was sapping their strength, and at a very fast rate.

  I looked around but couldn’t find the source of the threat. The parking lot looked quiet if not exactly peaceful—the burning hulk of a couple of nearby cars showed dimly through the dispersing blue smoke. I narrowed my eyes at Louis-César but doubted he’d tell me much. Luckily, I didn’t need him. “Billy? What’s going on?”

  “To whom are you speaking?” Louis-César began to look less than calm for the first time. “She may have a concussion,” he told Tomas. “Be careful with her.”

  I ignored him because Billy was floating near Pritkin and he’d started gesturing wildly at him, then all around, then out at the night. “Billy! What in the world are you doing? It’s not like anyone else can hear you—spit it out!”

  “Your familiar cannot help you, sybil.” The voice came out of the dark, and I noticed that the five vamps lounging around the outer edges of the lot had been joined by a friend. He was hard to see in the predawn light, but the feeling emanating off him wasn’t nice. It made me glad I couldn’t see his face. “I have warded against him. No one can help you, but then, you do not need it. You are in no danger, sybil. Come with me and I guarantee that no one will harm you. We value your gifts and want to help you develop them, not to keep you hiding and afraid all your life. Come to me, and I will let your friends, if they are friends, go in peace.”

  “My name’s Cassie. You’ve got the wrong girl.” I wasn’t interested in a conversation, but Billy Joe was trying to tell me something and I had to give him time to play charades.

  “I used your proper title, Miss Palmer, although your name is interesting, too. Did anyone ever tell you its significance?” He laughed. “Don’t tell me they have allowed you to grow up completely in ignorance? How lacking in foresight. We will not make the same mistake.”

  “Cassandra was a seer in Greek mythology. The lover of Apollo.” Eugenie had made sure we did myths of the Greeks and Romans as part of my schoolwork—apparently it was an important part of a young lady’s education back in her day—and I hadn’t complained because I thought it was kind of fun. I’d forgotten most of it but remembered my namesake. I’d thought Cassandra a good name for a clairvoyant, until now.

  “Not quite, my dear.” The voice was full and rich and might have been attractive if it hadn’t been accompanied by that vague, underlying something that reminded me of rotten fruit: overripe and mealy. “Apollo, the god of all seers, loved the beautiful human Cassandra, but she did not return his affections. She pretended to love, long enough to gain the gift of foreknowledge; then she ran away. He finally found her, of course—like you, she could not hide forever—and exacted his revenge. She could keep the gift, he said, but she would see only tragic events, and no one would believe her when she prophesied until it was too late.”

  I shivered; I couldn’t help it. His words cut a little too close to the bone. He somehow seemed to know he’d made a hit, and laughed again. “Don’t worry, lovely Cassandra. I will teach you that there can be beauty in the dark.”

  “What is going on?” I hissed at Billy, more to block out that seductive, awful voice than because I expected an answer.

  The dark mage responded, even though he shouldn’t have been able to hear a whisper that far away. “The white knight’s wards are failing, sybil. We will talk face-to-face soon.”

  I decided that was not a talk I’d enjoy. I glanced at Billy Joe. “Do you remember those three days after I left Philly the last time?” He stared at me blankly for a second, then violently shook his head and started making wild gestures. Yep, he remembered all right.

  I knew only one power word. It wasn’t a weapon but was designed to add stamina in times of emergency by drawing on the body’s reserves—all its reserves. It was dangerous to use, since if the power it gave ran out before the threat was over, you’d be as weak as a kitten when the bad guys caught you, but it packed a hell of a punch while it lasted. I’d used it to stay awake for more than three days straight after fleeing from Tony the second time. I’d researched it and practiced with one of the rogue mages at court, since I’d known from experience that it would take seventy-two hours for the trace charms on Tony’s wards to wear off. I’d gotten lucky the first time I left—I fell asleep on a bus, and my pursuers hadn’t been able to tell which of the half dozen vehicles that had just left the crowded station was mine. By the time they picked up the trail, I’d woken up, panicked and switched buses. I managed to stay ahead of them for the required three days, but I’d had several close calls and hadn’t wanted to try that trick twice. Tony’s guys had gotten a lot of practice tracking me during my first disappearance, and this time I wouldn’t have the value of surprise.

  My plan had worked, but the price was high: when the jolt finally wore off, I slept for a week and lost ten pounds. I’d have probably lost a lot more—like my life—except that Billy Joe and I had figured out that the energy exchange between us worked both ways. He could give me juice as well as take it, and right now he was tanked.

  Billy drifted lower, increasing the arm waving and scowling. He was obviously trying to tell me that he didn’t want to talk out loud, and there was only one alternative. I sighed. “Come on in.” A warm wash settled over me, and Billy flowed inside, giving me a replay of him digging his mother’s grave in Ireland as he settled down.

  “Have you lost your mind?!”

  “Just tell me if it will work—can we reinforce the shields?”

  “What do you mean, ‘we’?”

  I sighed. “Don’t bitch; you know you can spare it! Can we do it?”

  “Shit if I know!” Billy was at his acidic best. “I don’t go playing around with words of power! If this thing backfires, it could be bad—real bad.”

  “It worked last time.”

  “You almost died last time!”

  “Why, Billy, I didn’t know you cared. Now, answer the question.”

  “I don’t know,” he repeated stubbornly. “In theory, I should be able to redirect the power outward instead of inward, but—”

  “Great.” I focused on the shimmering shields, ignoring the fact that Louis-César and Tomas were having some sort of argument. It had been a long time since I tried this, and if I screwed it up, I might not get another chance. Pritkin was almost purple, and only the whites of his eyes were showing.

  “Wait! I need to think a minute! Hold your horses—” Billy kept talking, but I tuned him out. We didn’t have time for a prolonged discussion. I couldn’t extend my ward like Pritkin had done; if his shields disappeared altogether before I could strengthen them, we were toast. I concentrated and spoke the only power word I knew.

  Energy flowed through me to the point that I thought I was going to levitate right off the asphalt. A second later Billy carved a glowing gold rune in the air that hovered in front of my face for a minute, shiny and bright and perfect. But I didn’t have much time to admire it, since I was knocked flat on my ass a second later when the energy left me in the same bone-jarring rush in which it had come. I suddenly, vividly recalled why I didn’t do this kind of thing often.

  I rolled onto my side and groaned, trying to keep from throwing up. I had the definite feeling I wasn’t going to make it. Then Billy started to feed me some of his stolen power. I hadn’t expected to feel anything—when he’d helped me out before, I hadn’t known about it until after the fact
—but this I felt. Sparkling, warm, wonderful energy coursed through me, and I sat up abruptly. Damn! I could get addicted to this. Billy’s laughter echoed in my head and I grinned. No wonder he’d been zooming around like a comet earlier.

  “What did you do?” Pritkin was also sitting up, looking bewildered. He focused on me. “You reinforced my shields?” He stared in incredulity while I admired my and Billy’s handiwork. Pretty blue walls, so opaque they could probably have been seen by norms and so thick I could have driven a car around inside their ring, glimmered under the halogen lights. Pritkin must ward with water, because there were ripples like gentle waves spreading through them.

  “We do good work,” I congratulated my helper. “And I don’t even feel like puking anymore.”

  “What did you do?!” Pritkin grabbed me by the arms and my ward sizzled slightly. He let go, glowering and rubbing his hands. “You cannot have that much power—no human can!”

  “May be I borrowed it.”

  His eyes narrowed. “From whom, or what?”

  I didn’t feel like trying to explain. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Before anyone could answer, the shields began to spit and hiss. What looked like a black cloud had begun nibbling at them, swallowing that beautiful power in tiny bites, like a swarm of locusts descending on a prairie. Okay, maybe we weren’t out of the woods yet.

  I decided to get some answers from the one person here who would tell me the truth. I went inside and found Billy. “Spill it.”

  “I can’t believe you did that! Do you have any idea what would have happened if I hadn’t been able to channel that much power all at once? It could have ricocheted off the inside of the shield and fried all of us!”

  I interrupted. “Yell at me later. Just tell me what’s going on, fast.”

  “Mages from the two circles are fighting, and we’re stuck in the middle. How’s that for brief?”

  “Okay, now the version that makes sense.”

  I heard something odd and realized it sounded like grinding teeth. I hadn’t known he could do that. “I drifted through the dark mage after you came back to your body, but he caught on and warded against me. I don’t think I can do it again. But before he kicked me out, I learned that the Black Circle is allied with Rasputin, along with a lot of other groups who’re not happy with the status quo. They seem to think he’s got a real chance to take it all, and they don’t wanna miss out on the spoils. And, even more fun, it seems like Tony’s also buddy-buddy with them. He’s been selling magic users to the light elves, and he knows that if anyone finds out at MAGIC, he’ll be lucky if all they do is stake him.”

  “What? You aren’t making sense.” I’d only just found out Faerie wasn’t a myth. I certainly didn’t understand enough about it to follow Billy’s ramblings.

  “It’s a long story. All you need to know is that Tony wants protection. The dark elves have traced the problem to him, and they aren’t happy. They can’t afford for the light Fey to outbreed them, but with fertile magic users to help with the population shortage, that’s what’s going to happen fairly soon. And then the light will rule all of Faerie.”

  “But that’s good, right?” I didn’t know how many of my nursery school stories were based on fact, but if the dark Fey really were composed of trolls, banshees, goblins and the like, wouldn’t it be better for the light to win?

  Billy sighed. “You and I gotta have a long talk sometime. No, it would not be good. I don’t trust any of the Fey, but at least the dark have rules. The light have been getting more and more anarchic lately—in the past few centuries, I mean—and there’s no telling what they’ll do if there is nothing to balance them. That’s why that demented pixie was here. She couldn’t give a damn about enslaved humans normally, but if the trade is going to benefit the light, she wants to stop it. Anyway, the point for us is that Rasputin has promised to protect Tony in return for him killing you. It wasn’t a hard sell.”

  “I bet.” So I had yet another enemy. I was going to have to start keeping a list. “Why does Rasputin want to kill me?”

  “He sees you as a threat, but I don’t know why. The mage may know, but I didn’t get it. But I did find out that Rasputin called Tony’s boys about half an hour ago and said you were on your way here. That’s probably why Jimmy was still alive. They were too busy deploying every spare thug around the casino to catch you to bother killing him. Only nobody expected you to just waltz in the front entrance. They were watching the side and back entries, so you threw them a little.” Well, at least that explained why I’d been able to stroll around deserted hallways.

  Something occurred to me. “I didn’t even know I was coming until right before I left. How did Rasputin figure it out?”

  “Good question.”

  I decided to leave it for the moment. “But why would Tony defy Mircea and the Circle by something as risky as slaving?” Dealing in magic users was not unknown, but most people had decided that the huge profits to be made by selling powerful telepaths or wardsmiths wasn’t worth the penalties imposed if the Circle caught up with you. I’d heard Tony himself say it was a game for fools. So what had happened to change his mind? “Mircea will kill him.”

  “Not if Rasputin kills Mircea and the rest of the Senate first. In that case, Tony gets a Senate seat, out from under the control of his master, and no more dues to pay. Power and wealth, the usual suspects.”

  “Tony isn’t strong enough to stand on his own, even without Mircea. He’s third level at best; you know that.”

  “Maybe he thinks Ras’ll help him. Or maybe he’s been holding out. He’s old enough to have advanced to second level if he’s ever gonna do it. Maybe he didn’t tell anybody, ’cause that would have made Mircea watch him a whole lot closer. He could’ve been waiting for a chance to break with him but didn’t dare move without a big-time ally.”

  “Which he now has.”

  “Looks that way. So, partner, whaddya wanna do?”

  “What exactly are we up against?”

  Billy Joe sighed theatrically. It was the sound he makes when he knows I’m not going to like what he has to say. “Two dark mages, five vamps here and fifteen others spread around the area, and at least six are master level. Oh, and eight norms armed to the teeth.”

  “What?!”

  “Well, whaddya expect? Vegas is one of Tony’s strongholds. And more will be coming—I saw another half dozen norms and eight or nine vamps in the basement. As soon as they figure out that you’ve been sighted, they’ll be along. This place is about to get very busy.”

  I sat there, stunned. “We’re screwed.”

  “That’s the consensus. The plan right now is to have Tomas grab you and fly outta here, while Louis-César and the mage stay behind and try to slow everybody down long enough for you to get away.”

  “That’s suicide!”

  “Yeah, and the worst part is, it probably won’t even work. We’re surrounded, darlin’. Ain’t no way Tomas is gonna make it past all of them.”

  “Shit.” I thought for a second. “What about reinforcements?”

  I was interrupted by Louis-César yelling in my ear. “Mademoiselle, can you hear me?”

  I jerked away before he could touch me. “What do you want? I’m kind of busy.”

  He looked at me oddly, but he moderated his voice. “You have to go now, mademoiselle. I am sorry, but we cannot give you more time to recover.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Tomas will never get past a gauntlet like that and you know it. Two black knights, six masters and at least fourteen other vamps? Come on.”

  I found out what Louis-César looked like when someone had rattled his cool. “How can you possibly know what we are facing?”

  “Her ghost servant told her,” Pritkin said, and I noticed that he was back on his knees, concentrating on the rapidly evaporating shields.

  “You can see Billy?” I was surprised. Very few people could.

  “No,” Pritkin said through clenched te
eth. His jaw was tight enough that the small muscle on the side stood out. “But I was told what you can do. At least, some of it.” Sweat ran in rivers down his face, soaking his shirt, and he looked at me desperately. “If you have any more tricks, I suggest you use them. I can only slow the process; I can’t stop it.”

  I sighed. Why did I think I was going to regret this? “Give me a minute.”

  I went back inside to find out if Billy Joe had any bright ideas. He did, but I didn’t like it. “I can’t possess the mage ’cause he’s warded against me. But you’re far stronger in spirit form than I am, ’cause you’re alive. If we could duplicate what happened—”

  “No! No way am I possessing anybody else! What if I can’t get back? What if I get stuck? Come up with something else.” I hadn’t enjoyed being Louis-César and I definitely didn’t want to find out what the inside of a dark-magic user felt like.

  “I don’t think you’ll get stuck. He’s a mage. Once you get in, you ain’t gonna have much time before he forces you out. But you won’t need that long. If you can distract him for a couple minutes, I’m betting our three heroes can deal with the vamps.”

  “Three against twenty? Don’t you think that’s being a little optimistic?”

  “You just don’t wanna do this.”

  “Damn straight.”

  “You got a better idea?”

  I swallowed thickly. There had to be an alternative. The Senate had sent three powerful operatives merely to drag me back from Dante’s, so they wanted me pretty badly. When we didn’t come back and nobody reported in, they were sure to send reinforcements, but there was no way to tell how long that would take. “How far away is sunrise? Maybe we can hold Tony’s guys off until they have to duck for cover. Louis-César should be able to handle a little sun, and I know Tomas can.”