“By strangling you with these bad boys, that’s how.” Reagan lifted her hands, the whiskey bottle still in one of them, with a dead-serious expression on her face. “Besides, you can only stonewall me half the time.”
Penny’s eyebrows lowered slowly. Magic started collecting in an organized mass above her head.
“Don’t even think about it,” Reagan said in a low tone. “Don’t even think about trying to blast me with something.”
The magic continued to collect.
His dark mood evaporating like water on the baking cement, Emery felt a cockeyed smile drift up his face as he leaned against the doorframe. Penny and Reagan were each capable of wreaking havoc in their own right, but get them together and they were a wild display of fireworks. He loved watching it.
Reagan peeled a finger away from the whiskey bottle. “Don’t.”
“You always say practice makes perfect.” Penny started a weave, the magic crackling strangely. Emery couldn’t make out the spell’s purpose.
“Do you really want to go there?” Reagan asked, setting the whiskey bottle down slowly.
“Ladies, this is not the right place for this,” Darius said in a melodic voice.
“That is very pleasant,” Penny whispered, and sparkling new magical threads wrapped into those already established, the weave tight and graceful. The effects would be vicious. Emery knew how Penny worked. The nastier the spell, the more pleasant the counterweight she used to balance it.
“Do not help her, Darius,” Reagan said between clenched teeth.
Penny flung the spell forward. Immediately, Reagan’s magic started to dissolve it away, unseen to Emery’s magical eye. Except…
Reagan gritted her teeth and furrowed her brow as Penny’s spell regenerated. Slower, but still moving, it drifted toward Reagan.
Emery pushed off the doorframe and centered his weight, unsure of what had just happened, and why Reagan was standing there as a vicious spell drifted toward her.
“What’s happening?” Darius said, his voice taking on a rough edge. His frame tightened, and Emery could tell the vampire was wondering if he should engage, too. This was clearly a standoff of some kind, and an extremely dangerous one. It wasn’t like their usual disagreements, which never had any teeth.
“You better move, or that spell is going to burn off your face,” Penny said with a smug smile. She leaned back on her heels.
Reagan’s brows lowered. Without warning, she rushed forward, charging through the spell. Heat flared, and then fire exploded in her face and ignited her hair. Not slowing, she grabbed at Penny.
“Fizzing blackjack sand dogs!” Penny jerked right, just missing Reagan’s grabbing fingers. She sprinted for the door. But Emery was standing in the middle of it, and couldn’t get out of the way in time.
“I still have my hands,” Reagan yelled, in hot pursuit. She must’ve launched through the air and hit Penny square in the back, because Penny barreled into Emery, knocking him out of the door.
He grabbed Penny and maneuvered her so his body would cushion her fall.
“Crispy donuts, Emery, you’re harder than the ground,” Penny said in grunts as she struggled to get away from him and Reagan, who’d piled on top of them.
Reagan rolled to the right, ripping Penny with her.
“Now do you see?” Reagan said, locking her long legs around Penny’s middle and her arm around Penny’s neck. “I don’t even need magic. Now what?”
Penny struggled, trying to get her elbow around to do damage, but she was well and truly stuck. Magic collected again, but before it could shift into a weave, Reagan squeezed her legs and arm, squishing Penny’s middle and cutting off her air.
“I could crack your neck right now, Ms. Natural Mage,” Reagan said, shaking Penny a little. “Crack it in two. Say uncle.”
“No! Reagan—” Penny tried to get an elbow around, but couldn’t find any body parts to hit. She scratched at Reagan’s arms. “Uncle. Uncle! You don’t need magic!”
“All right, then.” Reagan released her, letting Penny tumble to the side.
Darius stood in the doorway with a straight face and keen eyes. “What is this about Penny’s magic nulling yours, Reagan?”
5
Emery stepped in front of me, blocking me from Reagan and Darius. He was giving me time to get back onto my feet. Magic rolled over and through his body, wild and unruly. His tall, broad body flexed, exuding raw power and strength. Electricity surged between us as our magic mingled and ignited, unfurling around us in fits and starts.
I sighed in contentment, feeling my tight muscles relax. A graceful feeling of complete balance poured through me. I loved how it felt when our magic mingled.
“Penny ingested a Redcap’s unheard-of ability to shift into stone,” Reagan said, getting to her feet agilely. “That ability somehow protected the Redcap from my magic. When Penny took it, I was able to kill the Redcap. Unfortunately, for some reason, the magic then tried to kill Penny.” She put her hand up, staring at Emery. “It’s fine. I sorted it out…somehow. But it appears the magic has stayed with her, and she can sometimes nullify my magic.”
Darius shifted, the slight movement drawing Reagan’s notice.
She shrugged. “I don’t know how, either. The filthy goblin said the magic came from the gods, but who can trust goblins?” Reagan palmed her bald head, then felt down to her eyebrow-less forehead. “Kind of a dick move, making me go to the big meeting tomorrow with no hair. I’ll be a laughingstock.”
“You’re the one that rushed through the spell,” I said in a scratchy voice. I put my hand to my throat, wondering if it was all the yelling that had affected my vocal cords, and let Emery help me up.
“Excuse me…” Darius paused, looking between Reagan and me. It wasn’t like him to be at a loss for words. “What is this?”
“Let’s move this inside,” Reagan said, heading for the door. “I’m hungry. Darius, are you cooking?”
“Are you okay?” Emery asked me, sliding his hand along the small of my back.
“She’s not great at breaking news to people.” I closed my eyes and exhaled, savoring the warm tingles that spread through my body at Emery’s touch. Heat infused my middle. “I’m fine, really.”
Reagan and I gave the guys details while Darius cooked up some Irish staples—sausages, beans, rashers of bacon, and some delicious potato pancake things. Midway through the story, we moved to the table and finished it up while we ate the feast, though, by silent agreement, Reagan and I skipped the part where she’d freaked out over my refusal to do another bounty hunting gig. Darius and Emery both stared at me, Darius with a blank face and Emery in confusion.
“Since when does a goblin shape shift into stone?” Emery asked, pausing in eating a piece of sausage.
“Good question,” Reagan said with a full mouth.
Darius’s head shake was slight, but he didn’t comment.
Reagan caught it, stopped eating, and narrowed her eyes. “Do not keep us in the dark on this, or Penny and I won’t give you any other details…about anything.”
It was a bluff. I was terrible at keeping secrets, and even worse at lying.
“I have never heard of a Redcap with that ability,” Darius said, his eyes rooted to mine. I could practically see the wheels turning in the velvety depths. “In times of great strife, I have heard of select individuals being blessed with a gift of magic or power from the gods, entities that are basically equivalent to humans’ stories about angels. The blessed individual is usually exemplary in some way, working toward the betterment of all. Working to end the strife, whatever the strife may be.” Darius turned his gaze to his hands, clasped on the table. I could just barely see the crease form between his brows. “It is a rare occurrence…” His voice drifted away.
“He’s going through that giant memory of his,” Reagan said, leaning back and putting a hand on her stomach. “That was good. I like the food in this country. Meat!”
“Yes.” Darius nodded slowly, still looking at his hands. “The gods’ magic is transferable in some respects. The power diminishes somewhat, but it is possible to take the magic into oneself by force, or for it to be given as a gift.”