“Who is this other mage? We should speak with him.”

“Oh. Uhm.” I drew the sound out. “I accidentally killed him, actually. That was my bad.”

“How can you be sure this mage is male?”

I shrugged. “I’m not. I just deal with guys a lot in my trade. When they go crazy, they really let that freak flag fly. The mage I accidentally killed is proof of that.” I blew out a breath and stepped back, looking to the side, around the barrier spell, at the boot. “The spell over there is keeping the vampire from melting away like you all normally do when you die. Of course, she could just be asleep, but it’s obvious she’s intended to act as bait.”

“Bait?”

“Yeah. I mean, she’s clearly on display. We saw her from a ways out—any vampire would’ve. So you’d hurry to check on her, not notice the clear barrier spell before smacking into it, and whammy, bad day.”

“Given that the other sentinels are nowhere to be found, it’s doubtful one was left alive. This mage wouldn’t want to leave behind a live witness.”

There was that, yeah.

“Up until now, someone has been getting in and out without making their presence known,” he continued. “But now, sentinels are missing and a wall of magic has been thrown up to block our entrance. Our enemy is stepping up his game.”

I held up my hand, something I did when I needed to think and people were talking to me. “With this much power, he could’ve used a boat those other times and easily disguised it. That’s the most logical explanation for how he got in. These new developments of hiding his tracks, possibly killing sentinels, and creating a barrier could mean that he’s in a hurry. Like maybe he’s trying to head us off and had to navigate on foot. Maybe also that he is watching us, seeing how we deal with all this. He could even be trying to ambush us to prevent us from finding anything. There’s no way to know yet.”

“Watching us doesn’t fit.”

“Not really, no. Do a lot of vampires know you were going to investigate this?”

“This specifically? No. What lies in this place is not common knowledge, even to vampires. We choose carefully who guards this paddock, and the vampires are all at least upper-middle level. However, Vlad’s involvement and my role in the investigation will signify something big is going on.”

“And our mark will see the writing on the wall.”

“Easily.”

“Okay. So you’ve got some loose-lipped vampires tipping off our mark. While you were playing dodge death with me, he was running ahead and blocking our way into this place. And he did a good job. I’m not sure who you would’ve gotten to break through this.”

“That I trust? No one.”

“Aw. Doesn’t that just make me feel all warm and cozy inside.” He opened his mouth, and I held up a finger to stop him. “Yes, I know, you’re only using me because I’m expendable, and you can’t afford to kill your precious, expensive mages. Relax. I know the score.”

I bet he didn’t know the score, though. I wasn’t nearly as easy to kill as he probably thought. Especially when I knew the hammer was about to drop.

“Hacks,” I said, back to thinking about the problem in front of me. “They’re probably charging you an arm and a leg for their bulk ordering and the marks on their casings. I bet you showed them the golden chair and they immediately thought sucker.”

“Are you finished?”

“Stalling? Not really.” I blew out a breath and stared at the waters. “No way to get in by going around. That serpent will attack, I have no doubt.”

“One jumped up for me when I retrieved the other casing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the carcasses of the other sentinels were dangled over the water for the serpents to dispose of. When you dangled yourself over, the creatures probably thought it was feeding time again.”

I grimaced. “I am not having warm thoughts about this mage we are dealing with.” I looked at the spell and motioned him forward. “Do me a favor. Bend down and slide your hand along the ground. Slowly.”

Those honeyed peepers were trained on me for a long moment before he bent and did as instructed.

I guessed he did trust me a little.

The top of his hand started to sizzle, then peel. Webs of black lines flowed over his skin. The muscles in his arm started to tremble and his hand shook, but he didn’t make any other sign that it hurt, nor did he withdraw.

“Holy crap, man, take your hand away!” I yanked at his sleeve.

He shook his hand out and watched as his skin regenerated. Wide-eyed, I stared back at the empty space, which hosted a much nastier spell than I’d realized.

“They aren’t heading me off—they are heading you off. You’ll want to watch your step more than usual.” I pushed power into my blade.

Darius stood slowly, his face the terrifying mask of a predator. “They should hope to catch me.”

“They hope to kill you, it looks like. But whatever. Okay. How do you want to do this? I can most likely cut this spell down, but that will let them know you have powerful help. Right now, they are just planning for you. I’m a wild card, and spells like this, while they hurt, don’t affect me as strongly. That helps us now, but if they figure out my deal, they’ll tailor their attacks a little better. That would definitely hinder us down the road.

“The alternative is sneaking under this thing with a little know-how from me. Call it magic cat-burgling. They’ll never know.”

His eyes trained on my face for a few beats too long. “Sometimes, you seem so naive, almost useless, in your approach. Other times, like now, you are truly eye-opening, Reagan Somerset. It’s like beholding a goddess. I almost can’t believe you’ve touched down in the world of mortals.”

Heat crawled through my cheeks, and I blinked way too much. I did not see that coming.

“Right,” I said, unsure how to reply because, despite the really sweet part of that comment, half of it was a bitch slap. “Awesome.” I cleared my throat. “So anyway, about the spell…”

“Cut it down and then I will set a spell. How they take down my spell will tell me a great deal regarding their magical style.”

Excitement ran through me. I’d used spells conjured by others, and been attacked more times than I could count, but I’d never seen someone meticulously formulate an info trap out of purchased magic, like I knew Darius would.

“What type of counter-spell will you be working?” he asked.

“Oh. Uh…” I drew out the sound, half looking down at my pouch. The more powerful the spell, the harder it was to break. Getting the correct opposing magic just right, usually in the form of a counter-spell, could make the difference between a dead spell, or a dead spell breaker.

Of course, my magic didn’t work like that. It just ate through spells. I was the world’s master key to all the magical locks within a mighty large power spectrum. Mine was a very specific skill set that I could not advertise.

When I worked alone, I didn’t have to bluff.

I really missed working alone.

“I’m just going to…” I took out a casing and pretended to break it against my blade while moving to shield my movements. “I have this spell here which should subdue the volatile magic…” My voice drifted away into mumbles.

He leaned forward to ask another question, but before he could get it out, I steadied myself and struck, aiming to tear through the thick, gooey magic as fast as possible. My blade sliced in and slowed. The working was much more intricate and intense than it had appeared. The mage had disguised the real meat of the thing, which was now sucking the power from my sword. Once depleted, the spell would attach to me like a leech, stealing my life with each beat of my heart.

Hell’s doorbell. This was very tricky spell working.

Straining with effort, sweat beading on my forehead, I pushed more power into my sword. It slogged through, fighting. Losing. Only halfway to the ground, its power was almost depleted.

Tapping into my life force, where I could store magic like a battery, I pumped more into the sword. My sword turned an angry shade of red, and black tendrils ran through the wall, crystallizing it.