Page 20 of Hunted (Love and Revenge #5)

Sanka

I nudged an exploded salt bowl off the edge of the table and into the trashcan, then reached for the jar of powdered ghost root. Between trying to plan the emperor’s death and trying to free Josh from the vampire parasite in his head, it seemed like I lived in the workroom these days.

The runes around the perimeter of the room glowed a little too bright, which meant Richard had tampered with them again when I wasn’t looking.

I knew Ruya wanted to help the dhampir, and he wasn’t a bad guy, but man would I ever be glad to see the fucker go.

He was too curious, and too unconcerned about little things like mortality.

“Don’t touch that,” I said without turning.

Behind me, something crashed.

“That wasn’t my fault,” Richard called.

“It was literally your fault,” I grumbled. Ruya insisted that he liked to play dumb when he was among the vampire court, so they’d underestimate him and ignore him, yadda, yadda... but I was really starting to question whether it was actually an act at all.

And also... why was he even still here? He had talked to Josh. Shouldn’t Acacia be calling him back or using him to order us around? He said it was probably because he was below her notice—he just wasn’t that important. But... come to think of it... maybe she was using him to torture us.

“You didn’t label that stone ‘do not touch,’” the annoyance informed me.

“It was glowing and humming, and engraved with a skull and cross bones,” I muttered.

He peeked around the corner of a shelf piled with sigil scrolls that I used when I couldn’t recall some of the lesser-used symbols, chewing on the end of a licorice wand.

He occasionally paused to play with the thing with his mini-fangs.

I knew he was half vampire, but was the other half cat or something?

“So... you’re saying it was asking to be poked,” he said with a grin.

I gave him a withering look. “Go re-read those books you hauled over from the coven.” Richard had been stealing library books from the vampires for a while now.

I had to admit, it was useful how the vampires dismissed the enslaved dhampir and overlooked his existence.

As long as he went back long enough to do a few chores and skulk about annoying people into telling him to get lost, no one seemed to know or care how he spent the rest of his time.

“I already re-read them,” he replied to my demand. “They aren’t at all useful. No big surprise. It’s not like she’d keep them around if they had instructions on breaking blood bonds in them.”

I shook my head and tried to infuse my magic into the charm I was working on a bit more slowly this time. Carefully. “Go help Yukio with the north ward, then. Maybe test it for him, since it’s geared to vampires specifically.”

“Already did,” he said smugly. “It’s stronger now. Could electrocute a minor god.” He rubbed the tip of his nose. “I think it singed all my nose hairs off.”

“Fantastic,” I said flatly. “Go make some tea, then.”

The charm ring at the center of the room pulsed softly.

Six small stones surrounded a twisted wire cage filled with thread, bone, and iron filings.

A single silver coin hovered above it all, suspended in a tension field built from ambient magic and caffeine-fueled desperation.

I was really grasping at straws here. Normally, I didn’t use all this shit to cast spells—only weaklings or bloodless witches needed that kind of crutch to work magic.

But everything else I’d tried so far had failed, so here we were.

“This version won’t burn him,” I said, more to reassure myself than for Richard’s benefit. The last charm I had given Josh left the poor guy with third-degree burns. Luckily, he had superior paranormal healing now. But still, that shit had to sting.

“That’s a bold claim,” Richard drawled as he continued poking at my things like a kid who couldn’t hold still.

“I’m a bold person,” I muttered without looking at him.

Richard squinted. “Ha. Bold. You like to sound all dangerous. But you’re just a big, fluffy pile of demon candy hidden under a mountain of unnecessary muscle.”

“Correct,” I said, pleased. “And this fluffy pile of demon candy is about to revolutionize defensive wardcraft by combining sorcerer magic with witchcraft and luck.”

He flopped onto the floor near the edge of the ring and stretched his legs out. “You sure you want to test this on Josh?”

“No,” I admitted. “But he’s the one who asked.”

“And he’ll survive if it backfires?”

“Hopefully.”

“Great. Let’s risk his sanity and his internal organs,” he said with a sarcastic grin. “For science.”

I snorted. “Not for science. For revenge against that hag who turned him.” Acacia might be a woman, and one who hid behind a cute as hell little mask. But that wouldn’t stop me from punching her in the face. Or setting her on fire.

The door opened. Cicely stepped inside with a soft sigh—barefoot, curls damp, cheeks flushed like he’d just come from the bath. The guy had no right looking so relaxed. Or so fuckable. He carried a small scroll tube and a pouch of something that shimmered faintly with fae sigils.

“I brought a suggestion,” he signed.

“Please let it be better than Richard’s last five suggestions,” I muttered.

“Hey! That last ward held for three whole minutes ,” Richard said defensively. “You just didn’t like the screaming noises.”

“Because the voices were screaming in infernal! Those demons coulda been my fifth cousins four times removed, or something.”

Richard shrugged. “Details.”

Cicely unrolled the scroll across the cleanest surface he could find—which in this room, meant only moderately covered in stuff—and traced the outer ring of the sigil. The symbols were elongated and curving, like vines wrapping around a bone. I leaned in. “That’s... beautiful.”

He signed, “It’s a fae dampener—meant for silencing sirens in the dark pools of the enchanted woodlands of the old realm.”

“Gorgeous and ancient,” I said with barely contained lust. Fuck I loved learning new tricks. “And... repurposable, I think.”

I didn’t ask where he’d gotten it. I had a feeling Cicely had been slowly stealing shit from O’Dell for ages.

And it hadn’t stopped when he escaped the fae court and arrived here.

Somehow, he was still accessing some cache of stolen goods that he wouldn’t share with the rest of us.

Personally, I suspected Ruya’s animals were involved. He and that cat were thick as thieves.

Cicely looked at the charm ring, then at me. “You want to anchor it to blood?” he signed.

“Just a pricked finger,” I said. “Minimal draw. No bindings. But it seemed appropriate for interfering with vampire magic.”

He gave me a slow, cautious nod.

I turned to Richard. “Want to help me calibrate it, Mr. Almost-a-Vampire?”

He groaned. “Fine. But only if you make me one too, if it works. You might be enjoying my amazing presence, but I’d like to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”

I blinked.

Cicely coughed into his sleeve.

Richard shook his head and made an exaggerated sad face as he patted Cicely on the back. “There, there. I know. You don’t have to hide your grief. But you’ll get over missing me eventually.”

I rolled my eyes.

We worked for hours. The charm started as a simple ward that would create a bubble of protection around Josh—a mobile magical perimeter to make it more difficult for Acacia to enforce her will on him, and therefore more difficult to casually spy on us.

Cicely’s fae design nested into the second layer of magic like it belonged.

It would help target the protections specifically toward mind manipulation.

And an extra layer of my own demon-blooded magic wrapped around it all in a chaotic binding.

It wasn’t elegant. But it was powerful.

We tested it on Richard. He was also blood bound to Acacia, though not with a maker’s bond.

She couldn’t read his mind, only exert her will on him when she chose to, through concerted effort.

It wasn’t the same as Josh’s deep bond with her, but it was the best way we had to test the charm against Acacia’s magic specifically.

Richard grinned like a madman as he reached for the finished charm. When activated, the charm pulsed, sparked, and did something that made Richard shudder and start laughing in glee.

We all froze.

“Did that just... work?” I asked slowly, not sure if the dhampir’s reaction was good or bad. He was such a lunatic, it could be either. I could feel the magic but wasn’t sure of the effect on him.

“It did... something,” Richard said with that same manic grin. “I feel like a weight just lifted from my body. Like I could fly.”

Cicely signed, “We need to make another one.”

I agreed. We had promised to help Richard escape Acacia’s influence.

If this charm was blocking her, then it should do the trick.

With a bond like his—a non-maker’s bond—all he needed was enough distance and her hold would be inconsequential.

This charm would allow him to leave the city without her calling him back.

And as unimportant as he was in the vampire court, no one would go looking for him.

Now we just needed to whip up another charm and see if it worked on Josh.

*****

J osh sat in the middle of the theater space, where the seating had long ago been removed to allow Robin room to roam in dragon form. His legs were folded, hands on his knees in meditation posture. His face was devoid of emotion. He looked like someone waiting for execution, not a protection spell.

Though, the way our experiments had been going up ‘til now... I couldn’t blame him.

I handed him the charm. The layered spell was embedded in a dragon scale that Robin would probably kill me for using, but which greatly amplified the power.

It was suspended from a leather cord. “If you feel anything wrong—tightness, pain, whatever—just drop it,” I told him, leveling him with a serious glare.

Just because it had worked safely on Richard didn’t mean it would be the same for Josh.

His entire physiology and aura was different, not to mention the magic involved.

He nodded silently. Poor guy had to be feeling so many different emotions right now—hope, fear, anger... but he didn’t let them show. It was fucking sad. A beta wasn’t meant to be so cold and stoic.

I crouched beside him and put a hand on his knee, lending him a little comfort, one beta to another. “You ready?”

“No,” he said softly. “But do it anyway.”

Giving him a nod, I stood and activated the charm.

Josh gasped and pressed his hands to either side of his head. I immediately tensed, ready to disarm the magic before his head exploded. Ruya and Sadavir would never forgive me if I blew up their lover.

But then he lifted his head and his hazel eyes met mine. Not pain. His gaze was full of relief. He looped the charm around his neck and smiled.

His whole body sagged. His aura, usually dark and cracked, eased. Lightened. For ten seconds—ten whole seconds—he looked like himself.

Then his whole body went rigid, his hands pressing into the sides of his head like he was trying to hold himself together. He screamed, a sound of inhuman pain. The charm lying against his chest flared red, sparked, then went black.

I rushed forward, my own magic reaching out, the nullifying spell already half formed. But the charm was dead. Cicely caught Josh before he hit the floor. Richard snatched the dragon scale charm from around Josh’s neck and flung it away.

Josh panted, shaking in Cicely’s arms. “She felt it,” he rasped. “She felt it.” I knew what he was getting at, what sparked the note of renewed fear and anger in his voice. She knew we were trying to block her out, and she’d probably be pissed off. Which would mean more of her petty games.

“But it worked,” I said. “Not for long, but it worked. ”

He nodded. “Briefly.”

I helped him sit up. “It’s a step in the right direction. We’ll make a better one.”

Richard examined the smoldering charm that dangled from between his fingertips. “Hopefully he’ll survive it.”