Page 44 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)
LEVI
“ I should’ve put it together,” I mutter to myself before shoving a hand through my hair.
She’s my mother, after all. I should know her better than anyone else, and I should’ve realized how exactly she was pulling this off.
Izzy crosses the room to me cautiously, like she’s unsure whether I would welcome her presence. I’m not the one who has any reason to be upset with her. It’s the other way around.
I was her teacher for a year and didn’t realize what was happening to her until the last time with the younger Giles boy. But I should’ve known. It was clear Izzy was hurting from the first moment I laid eyes on her, but I was unsure why. I should’ve done more digging.
She hesitantly reaches out a hand to me. When I don’t move to avoid it, she rests her hand on my chest and stares up at me. I get lost in her gray eyes that can look like a roiling storm or a peaceful day, depending on her mood. “Put what together, screech owl?”
I let myself look at her for a long moment before sighing. “We already knew she’s using a cura artifact to assist the mage spell to drain mages. I should’ve put it together that she was using a blade from the Styx to do it.”
Izzy glances down at the knife secured to her gray dress borrowed from Seph. “Like the one Hades gave me?”
She looks at the blade with such trepidation that I feel a small smile tugging at my mouth. It’s like she thinks it’s a poisonous snake one wrong move away from attacking anyone and everyone.
Fortunately, she actually has to use the knife to cause any damage.
“Yes. It’s one of only three in existence.
” The other two belong to Hades and me. Last I knew, Lua’s blade was locked in one of the many vaults my brother has hidden around Infernus.
“I don’t know how she managed to get it, but she did.
Lua Mater is able to drain magic from people by stealing a part of their soul.
A spell the mage council developed allows her to funnel the person’s power to herself as long as she retains the bit of their soul. ”
Her eyebrows raise. “So, Lua is just casually carrying around thousands of souls with her? How does that even work? Doesn’t it get heavy?”
I huff a laugh. “She assimilates them into her own soul because her innate magic is stronger. All of the pieces she’s stollen have become one with her soul, so there’s no need to store them anywhere. Those souls don’t have any weight to them, because they aren’t physical objects on this plane.”
“Oh, that makes more sense.” Izzy nods to herself. “It lines up with all the souls of the lower mages being damaged. I wonder if I reduced her power at all when I healed the ghosts of the kids she drained.”
“It’s possible, but each mage only gives her a very small amount of magic. It’s doubtful that it made any difference to her.”
I don’t want to think about how many mages my mother has killed to double her power. How many children. How many innocents.
Izzy tilts her head as she thinks of something else. “How could she drain the Earth? Does a planet have a soul?”
“Planets don’t have souls, as far as I’m aware.
I think she’s looking for rock from the Earth’s core to act as a proxy for its soul.
It makes sense in a way because anything from the core is made of the innate magic of the planet.
” I flick my gaze back to the councilman, who’s currently an unconscious, bloody mess.
“Giles doesn’t have any information about that part of her plan. ”
When I riffled through the disgrace of a councilman’s head, I saw many, many disturbing memories. He chronically abused the power afforded to him by his position, and much like his sons, he enjoyed taking what women weren’t willing to give.
If I thought imprisonment in Tartarus wasn’t worse than killing the spineless weasel, I would end his pathetic life here and now.
Izzy’s shoulders slump and she scrubs a hand over her face. “Of course he doesn’t. That would make everything way too easy. Does he at least know where to find the spell used to drain the mages with the blade?”
At least I was able to retrieve that for my mate.
I walk over to the back wall and look around for anything that stands out. “It should be in a hidden compartment somewhere along this wall.” When I don’t find it visually, I let my magic out. It crawls along the wall until it sinks into a hidden compartment. “Found it.”
Nothing happens for a moment. Then a loud creaking sounds before part of the wall flies off and hurtles across the room right at Izzy.
She just stares wide-eyed at it before Legion grabs her hand and yanks her out of the path of the debris.
I grit my teeth as I mentally berate myself for almost injuring Izzy like that. I should’ve been more careful, but I am grateful for Legion yanking her out of the way.
It’s hard to adjust to the fact that Izzy now has an anguis mate.
Anguis are little more than legend around Infernus. While we know they exist, they’re seen so rarely that they’ve become a boogeyman of sorts—a story parents tell their children to scare them into behaving.
I don’t think in my wildest dreams I imagined the king of the anguia would be in my mate group, but I’m grateful for the extra power he has to keep my mate safe.
Legion’s brows are furrowed in concern as he looks Izzy over for any injury. “Careful, mate.”
“Sorry,” she mutters as her cheeks flush in embarrassment. “And thanks.”
His eyes crinkle slightly at the corners as he smiles down at our mate. “You are welcome.”
After watching them for a moment, I turn to root through the hiding place I discovered. The hole in the wall is dark, damp, and filled with spiderwebs. I use my magic to pull out the singular object in the cavity—a simple brown leather journal.
I flip through the pages and see the same messy handwriting that I saw in Giles’s memories. I skim the pages until I find the spell that was in his memories. I’m not as familiar with mage magic as Izzy or Bishop, so I’ll leave deciphering it to them.
When I finish looking through the leather-bound book, I look up to find Izzy already watching me. “I think I found what we need, so we can get out of here.”
She tries not to let the relief that we can leave show on her face, but she doesn’t succeed. “Are we bringing Giles with us? And should we check the rest of the council offices to make sure no one else is there before we skedaddle?”
“Yeah, we should definitely check the rest of the offices,” her brother agrees. “We can’t afford to leave any of the council alive and able to help Lua execute her plans. Bishop and I can handle that, though, if the rest of you want to focus on getting Giles back to Infernus. ”
I’m pretty sure Rhys is trying to spare his little sister from having to see any other gruesome scenes like the one in the first councilman’s office. She’s been through so much in the space of less than an hour, and for most of her life, honestly, so I’m all for taking that burden from her.
I expect Izzy to argue, but she doesn’t. With an exhaustion that’s not just physical seeming to weigh her down, she shrugs. “Sounds good to me.”
When Izzy doesn’t object, Rhys’s shoulders slump in relief. He jerks his chin at the door, wordlessly telling Bishop to follow him. Izzy’s mage pulls her into his arms for a lingering hug before following her brother.
She stares after them contemplatively before turning back to the rest of us. “So, what now?”
“Now, I’ll need you to open a rift back to the room we left from.” I’m continually amazed at all Izzy can do. Even Hades himself can’t portal within fifteen miles of Acheron with the blocking charm activated. Yet my mate can do that with ease, which is endlessly impressive.
Giving me a nod, Izzy says, “One portal straight to Hell coming up.” She looks extremely proud of herself when her quip makes her alpha wolf’s lips twitch up in amusement.
Closing her eyes, Izzy concentrates for a beat before her purple cura magic flows out of her. After swirling around, it forms a rift that no one from Earth should be able to open. Creatures of this planet simply don’t have enough magic to power a connection between realms, but Izzy does.
“Excellent job, little raven,” I praise when she opens her eyes.
Her full lips curve into a satisfied smile before she sobers. “So, who’s drawing the short straw and carrying Giles back to Infernus ? Because I’d really, really rather not need to touch him.”
Before I can offer, Legion jumps in. “I will take him through the rift for you, mate.”
She smiles at him. “Thanks. I’m going to wait here for Rhys and St. James, but the rest of you can go through if you want.”
Predictably, none of us takes her up on that offer. As if we’d leave her alone to deal with any threats that she could face in this office. Legion is the only one to go through her rift, but that’s because he needs to get Giles through. The rest of us stay on this side with her.
The alpha wolf crosses his arms and stares down Izzy. “You’re not getting rid of us that easily, wildcat.”
“I wasn’t trying to get rid of you,” she tells him with an eye roll. “I just figured you wouldn’t want to be in mage council HQ any longer than necessary. I don’t know if it’s all the evil things they’ve done here or just my general hatred of the council, but I get the heebie-jeebies being here.”
Cain walks over to her and wraps her in a hug. “We’ll keep you safe here until you’re ready to go, angel.”
She melts into his embrace and stares up at him with a love that’s so obvious it makes me ache.
I know my little raven cares for me as much as she cares for her other mates, but I can’t help my envy that some of them have the bond with her that I crave. Not that I will ever tell her that, because my jealousy isn’t her problem to manage.
“Thanks, quiet boy. I’ll keep you safe, too.”