A Grave Magic: The Shadow Sorceress Book One Read online

  The demon broke free and hurled its body over the top of the desk. I dodged its first blow, but it moved faster than my eyes could follow and its claws caught me square across the chest, shredding the fabric of my shirt and drawing blood.

  “You’re not really a big fan of making friends, are you?” The voice made me jump and I glanced back over my shoulder as the demon paused.

  The man standing behind me was familiar—something about his leather jacket—and then it hit me.

  “You were creeping around at the crime scene earlier. Are you following me or something?”

  “Or something,” he said, stepping up past me and scooping the blood pen from where it had fallen into the centre of the book.

  He didn’t flinch as it dug its spines into his finger, the blood dripping down onto the page as he signed his name in an eligible flourish. Dropping the pen, he jerked his thumb in my direction. “Amber here is with me, Flora, all right?”

  The demon studied him for a moment, a petulant expression on her face, and I knew she was contemplating kicking up a fuss.

  Instead, she lifted her hand and sucked the blood from the tips of her claws.

  My blood.

  “Fine, but if she causes trouble, it’s your head,” she said, gesturing to a door off to her left.

  It swung open, heat and music swirling out to greet me.

  “I’ll remember you, Amber. It’s only a matter of time before I get my way, and when I do, Witch, you’re mine….” The demon named Flora winked at me.

  Brushing off her threats, I caught up to the stranger, crossing through the door and into the club after him before the door slammed shut and disappeared once more.

  Chapter 14

  “Her name can’t really be Flora,” I said, catching up to him.

  He shot me a confused look, “why not?”

  “What self-respecting, bad-ass demon calls itself Flora?” I asked, falling into step beside him as we moved deeper into the club.

  The place was cavernous, and instinctively, I knew the place wasn’t a part of the human realm. However Madeline had managed it, she’d placed her Sanctuary into an alternate realm.

  It couldn’t possibly be Faerie, and as far as I was aware it wasn’t Hell…. But I hadn’t explored enough of the place to know anything for certain.

  The stranger grinned at me, his smile revealing a deep dimple in his left cheek and a wicked sparkle in his dark grey eyes.

  “Maybe she has a sense of humour?” he volunteered, smothering the laugh that threatened to steal his words.

  I stared up into his eyes and took a small step towards him. There was something so familiar about him, something that went beyond the glimpse I’d had of him standing outside the crime scene.

  “See something you like?” he asked, his voice dropping to a sensual growl. It crept over my skin, and I could practically feel his hands sliding up underneath my shirt.

  “Nope,” I lied, dragging my gaze away from his and returning my attention back to the club.

  His laugh sent a flurry of excitement racing through my veins and it was an effort not to melt and throw myself into his arms.

  “Where the hell are we, anyway?”

  “This is Sanctuary. I thought you knew—you seemed so adamant to see Madeline,” he said, rambling on.

  “No, I mean, where is Sanctuary? This isn’t the mortal realm, it feels too.…” I struggled for the right words, but I couldn’t find them.

  There was something about the place that felt off.

  “She won’t tell anyone where it is. She claims it’s her way of ensuring the Sanctuary’s safety, but I’m not entirely convinced. But hey, her house, her rules, right?”

  He was right. It was up to Madeline whether or not she wanted to share the location with everyone, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced, and meeting Flora at the door had made me even more nervous.

  Madeline was one of the Fae, banished from the Royal line—or at least that was how the story went. It still didn’t explain why someone like her would mess with something so dangerous.

  Demons were not known for their restraint. So how was she keeping them in check? There was so much about the situation that didn’t add up, but that wasn’t why I was here.

  “You seem to know your way around. Spend much time here?” I said, instantly regretting my choice of words. It sounded way too much like a bad chat-up line.

  He grinned once more, flashing me the dimple for a second time, and my stomach flip-flopped in response. What the hell was wrong with me? I wasn’t normally so susceptible to the charms of handsome men.

  You’ve got a job to do, Amber, and getting sidetracked by someone as sexy and generally drop-dead gorgeous as this stranger isn’t on the agenda.

  He’d gotten under my skin, so much so that I couldn’t even give myself a proper pep talk without concentrating on all of his substantial attributes.

  “You’re asking me if I come here often? I didn’t realise we’d reached that stage already,” he said, the strain on his voice telling me he was getting it hard not to burst out laughing.

  Great, not only had he saved me, but I’d given him no reason to believe I was capable of doing my job. In fact, I was pretty certain I’d done the exact opposite in the very short amount of time we’d spent in each other’s company.

  It had to be some sort of record….

  I should write a book, How to Make a Complete Tool Out of Yourself in Four Easy Steps or Less. It would be a guaranteed bestseller and it would mean I wouldn’t have to witness the type of horror I’d experienced earlier.

  “You know exactly what I mean. You’re deliberately making this awkward,” I said darkly, picking up my pace.

  “Jeez Louise, are you always this touchy? Lighten up and learn to see the lighter side of life; in this line of work, it’s the only thing we can do.” He caught up to me and caught my arm, swinging me around to face him. He crushed me in against his chest.

  I tried to fight his grip, but it was a half-hearted effort borne of the fact that he’d surprised me by grabbing me. Dipping his face, his lips met mine and my body went limp.

  The urge to wrap my hands into the front of his jacket was overwhelming. Drawing him in closer seemed like a good idea, as he slipped his hands around my waist, cupping my body against his.

  His tongue caressed my lips and I opened to him automatically, the kiss deepening and a small whimper of need rushed out of me.

  He released me as quickly as he’d grabbed me and I stumbled backwards, my legs refusing to cooperate with my brain’s commands. I was supposed to berate him, slap him, but what for? I’d enjoyed it, goddess help me, but I’d liked it.

  “Thanks, that was a little too close for comfort,” he said, darting a glance back over his shoulder to the retreating back of a particularly large and nasty looking bald guy.

  “What?” I said, finding my voice buried beneath the knot of desire he’d created in my core. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and brushed my fingers against my lips. I could still feel the pressure of his kiss, the ghost of his touch emblazoned on my skin.

  “I needed something to hide who I was; I helped carry out an execution against half of that guy’s crew last week. A particularly nasty nest of vamps….” He trailed off, his mouth dropping open. “Oh, you thought….”

  “I didn’t think anything; the only thing I want to do right now is find Madeline and talk to her.” Heat flamed across my cheeks and I was beyond relieved that the lighting was so poor. That, at least, would keep my embarrassment to a minimum.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t think and—” he said.

  Listening to him apologise only made me feel worse.

  “It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” I said, trying to brush the topic off, but he caught my arm again and stared down into my face.

  “It’s not that I didn’t want to, because believe me when I say I really want to….” His voice dropped to an appreciative growl and if the kiss had never
happened between us, I might have been tempted.

  Hell, who was I kidding? Even though the kiss had happened, maybe even more so because it had happened, I was tempted. But he didn’t need to know that.

  I’d already made enough of a fool out of myself. I didn’t need to keep it up now.

  “I said forget it, you just surprised me, is all,” I said, keeping my voice light.

  He studied my face for a few seconds more, but I shrugged out of his grip and straightened my jacket before flipping my hair back over my shoulders.

  His expression was confused and I couldn’t help but feel a sliver of triumph. The more he believed that I wasn’t in the least bit bothered by what he’d done, the better.

  “But if you do that again, I will gut you with my knife and not think twice about it.”

  He smiled, but I kept my expression steady. It wasn’t an idle threat. I wasn’t here to be used for his convenience; he’d saved my life but I didn’t know him, I hadn’t asked for his help, and it certainly didn’t entitle him to anything from me.

  The smiled wilted around the corners of his mouth and it seemed to dawn on him that I wasn’t playing around.

  With a nod, I twirled away from him and slammed straight into the broad chest of one of the ugliest demons I’d ever set eyes on. It glowered down at me, its shiny black skin a mess of cracks, and as it sucked in a deep breath, I watched each crack actually glow red like the glowing of a burning coal.

  The heat that rolled from its skin forced me back a couple of steps, but it reached out and wrapped one huge clawed hand around my shoulder, lifting me as though I weighed nothing at all.

  Pain flared through my body as the heat from the lava flowing below its skin seared into me.

  “Get the hell off me.” I fought against its grip but it was like struggling against a marble statue. I had the same chance of shaking it loose as I did of winning the lottery by using my magic.

  Impossible.

  The pain continued to ebb and flow as I hung from its grip. Gritting my teeth, I slipped my athame from its position at my back. I would just have to wait for my opportunity, and once I had it, all I could do was hope and pray the dagger would be enough to cause the creature to think twice about messing with me.

  If it didn’t, I was more screwed than I cared to imagine.

  Chapter 15

  It carried me through the club, weaving its way in and out of the groups of people and creatures, passing tables of vampires enjoying their latest conquests. The moment it paused near the back wall, I took my opportunity and swung my blade up, slashing at the shining skin.

  The sound of metal on the rock-like substance it appeared to be made of grated on my ears. Sparks flew beneath the blade as I tried to cut it.

  It dropped me, and my Elite training kicked in, telling me to bend my knees beneath me to absorb the impact. Landing on my feet, I stayed low, out of its reach. My shoulder itched and burned where it had held me and the urge to examine the damage it had done to me was overwhelming. But there was no way I was going to make that mistake.

  The stranger caught up to us, the slight widening in his eyes the only indication that he was concerned about the demon.

  Just who the hell was he? How did he know about Madeline? Why had he been at the crime scene, and why wasn’t he more disturbed by the lump of volcanic evil standing between us?

  “What do you want?” I said, addressing the demon.

  It didn’t answer me, but I could see the flicker of hatred in its glowing red eyes. I didn’t know it, but for some reason, the way it was staring at me suggested that it knew me.

  “I’ve found the pure ones aren’t big on the whole chatting thing,” the stranger said, meeting my gaze around the girth of the beast.

  “It’s a waste of our time; it’s something petty humans take comfort in.” The beast spoke, its voice reminding me of the way my blade had scraped against the hard rock of its skin.

  I longed to slam my hands over my ears just to block out the sound of its voice, but it would only take that as a sign of weakness.

  “Why did you grab me?”

  “You wish to see Madeline. I was merely obliging.”

  Despite the pain its voice caused, it was a surprisingly eloquent speaker. The two things seemed such a contradiction, but the fact that a Fae was doing dealings with pure-bred demons was a contradiction in itself.

  There was something majorly wrong, something that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. The only person who could possibly give me some of the answers I sought was Madeline. But whether she was willing to spill her secrets to me, well, that was an entirely different matter.

  “You could have just said you would escort me to her,” I answered, the pain in my arm still smarting. I was going to have to put some sort of aloe gel on it the second I had the chance or it was going to leave a pretty nasty scar.

  The demon smiled, a white, toothy grin that sent a shiver racing down my spine. Its mouth was filled with a combination of jagged fangs that resembled broken glass, and long needle like spines.

  I’d seen what a demon bite could do to something human and I pitied anyone who ended up on the wrong end of its jaws. An image of my father trying desperately to fight off a demon digging around in his guts filled my head.

  I could still hear his terrified screaming….

  “Are you all right?” The stranger’s voice cut through my thoughts and I snapped my attention away from the demon and its weaponised mouth.

  “I’m fine, I’ll be happier when I get away from this thing,” I said. My tone was judgmental, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t just hate the demon because one of its kind had killed my father, I hated it because it was my job to hate creatures like it.

  Vampires, werewolves, and the Fae might have had a citizen pass, but demons, pure breeds and hell spawn, did not. They were considered abominations capable of only one thing: death and destruction. Well, fine, that was two things, but as far as I was concerned they meant the same thing.

  “Through there,” the beast said, pointing beyond my shoulder.

  Turning slightly, I noticed the edge of a shimmer, the universal telltale sign of magic.

  “Don’t we need a key?” I asked, giving the demon my full attention once more.

  It grinned at me again and my stomach flipped nervously; whatever it had planned, I really wasn’t going to like it.

  “I am the key” it said, lashing out with one of its clawed hands.

  The clawed hand collided with the centre of my chest, the impact driving the air from my lungs as the blow knocked me from my feet.

  I fell backwards and straight through the shimmering magic that covered the wall. The mark of the beast across my chest tingled and burned as soon as I hit the magical barrier. Without the beast’s mark, I would have been toast. The magic used to ward Madeline’s private quarters was obviously extremely powerful; whatever she was hiding she didn’t want just any Tom, Dick, or Harry wandering through.

  Hitting the ground on the other side of the magical door, I curled my body in on itself, allowing myself to roll forward and come up on my feet.

  Staying low, I peered around at my surroundings, but in the gloom there wasn’t much to pick out.

  “Finally, we get to meet.” A female voice rang out on the air but I couldn’t tell from which direction it came.

  In the cavernous dark, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

  “I didn’t realise you were waiting to meet me; in fact, I didn’t even know you wanted to meet me.”

  “Of course I wanted to meet you, do you take me for a fool?”

  Her words baffled me; I had no idea what she was talking about but I had no intention of letting her know that.

  “Everything I know about you, everything I’ve been told, tells me I shouldn’t be here, that I should stay away from someone like you. And now that I’ve seen the inside of Sanctuary, I know why.”

  “And yet, here you are. Do you like it,
by the way, what I’ve done with the place, I mean?”

  “I’d like to know where the hell we are.”

  “Well, I can tell you it’s not Hell, it’s not Heaven either, and it certainly isn’t Faerie.” There was a bitterness to her voice that tainted the air, turning it sour.

  “So where is it then?”

  She laughed, a high-pitched tinkling sound that could have caused glass to shatter if there were any nearby, but in the darkness there was just nothing. Peering into the darkness, I caught sight of something as it moved.

  I couldn’t even describe it as movement, not really; it was more a ruffling of the darkness, but I tensed up nonetheless. The darkness shifted again and something moved closer, coming into focus with each step it took.

  Madeline paused ahead of me, the dark swirling around her as though it was drawn to her body, as though she had control over its very existence and it knew this. It swirled around her the same way a playful kitten might dance around the ankles of its owner.

  “I thought you were Fae,” I said, catching a glimpse of her eyes.

  Faeries had a very distinctive appearance; their eyes were one of two colours, blue or violet. The closer they were to the royal line, the brighter the violet colour, and then of course there was the little matter of their wings.

  They could, of course, glamour them, concealing them from human eyes but all the accounts I’d ever heard, it was more than a little difficult to keep up the glamour. It was one of the reasons the Fae weren’t much of an issue to the Elite; they tended to stay behind their veil in Faerie and we were more than happy for them to keep it that way.

  Madeline was like no Fae I had ever seen. Her eyes were red, purple lines running through the ruined iris, and as she stepped out of the darkness closer to me, I took a trembling step back.

  It was a sign of weakness, a mistake; I knew I’d made it the second I saw the smile curl on her lips, but I didn’t care. Everything I’d ever heard about her had been a lie. Christ, moving away from her wasn’t a mistake, it was a natural instinct.