Dead Warlock: Arcane Inc. Book 5 Read online

  He was right. I was alone. I’d never realised how important Ashley’s company was to me. I never knew how alone I’d be without her. When she died my whole world died with her and now here I was plodding through almost on autopilot. Could Nick fix all that? Could he fill the gap she’d left? Would I finally feel like there was a point to everything again? Surely it was worth finding out.

  “Ask yourself this,” Nick said, after I failed to respond to him. To be fair he didn’t seem to mind, he didn’t even seem like he was waiting for a response. “Do you agree with Clara’s cause?”

  “I don’t agree with anything to do with Clara,” I said angrily. Just her name was enough to provoke a boiling rage in me.

  “Put your personal feelings towards her aside for the moment and think about what she’s trying to achieve. Ignore her methods and consider her motives. Do you agree with them?” he said in a strangely reasonable way. Why was he tempting fate? He had me against Clara already. He was risking changing my mind by making me think logically.

  “No,” I said after some consideration. “I do not want some sort of magical government that we’re beholden too. Especially not one with her at the top of it.”

  Nick nodded. “Well then. Join me and we can bring her scheme crashing down. The Alliance of Covens is already strong. We cannot let it get any stronger. We need to teach Clara that she cannot treat us all as lesser beings or subordinates.”

  His words rang true and I agreed to stand by his side there and then. With one simple handshake I entered into the most powerful and perhaps most lucrative alliance of my life. One thing was for certain, things were about to get a whole lot messier.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Nick teleported away and I made my own way home. Gabe was waiting with Marty and Charlene. I didn’t even protest Marty’s presence. I was just glad to see some security on my house now that Aldric was after me and pretty soon Clara would recognise me as a full enemy. I only hoped that an alliance with Nick would provide enough protection. They all seemed to be scared of him, maybe that alone was enough to keep them away.

  I took myself straight to bed as soon as I got in. Gabe still seemed upset about Sabrina though he didn’t say anything. I could tell by his pouty expression. He’d get over it. It was hardly the worst thing I’d ever done. And let’s be honest, she deserved it. The more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that banishment wasn’t good enough for her betrayal. If I let traitors walk free then there would be no deterrent. Disloyalty had to be answered with death.

  As I climbed into bed I noticed the dresser with Ashley’s products scattered messily all over it. Maybe I should tidy that up. Tidying it up would mean saying goodbye forever. There was still a chance that I didn’t have to do that. It was possible to resurrect people. Nick knew how. I just had to ask him. As my eyes closed and sleep took me I decided that I would ask him when he came back.

  When I woke I saw that Gabe had laid out some clothes for the day. I should probably tell him to stop doing that. It wasn’t a habit I needed him to get into. It was convenient when I was a bit more helpless, but I was more myself these days. I showered and dressed and then made my way downstairs. Alison and Sharon had replaced Marty and Charlene. Gabe was waiting in the dining room for me. He was dressed smartly as usual, but he looked tired. I doubted he’d slept much. Las night had seemed like the longest night in memory.

  “Eggs and toast,” he said, indicating the plate of food on the table for me.

  I sat down and pulled the plate towards me. “You know,” I said through a mouthful of eggs. “You’re not my butler. You don’t have to lay out my clothes and make my breakfast.”

  “People often do things they don’t have to do.” His voice was literally oozing with attitude.

  I put down my fork and looked up at him. “You got something to say?”

  “No. I’m sorry.” He didn’t look sorry. He looked pissed off.

  “Say it,” I said sternly. I couldn’t let him hold a grudge, it might compromise his ability to protect me.

  “You didn’t have to rip her heart out. She acted out of fear, not malice,” he said angrily. He snatched out a chair and joined me at the table. “I can understand why she had to die but you should have let me do it. She was a good person despite what she did, and she deserved to die with more dignity than you allowed her.”

  He was right. There was not arguing with him. I’d been angry and eager to impress Nick, but I could hardly tell him that. “I was angry,” I admitted, omitting the other part. “She’d betrayed me and… I should have controlled myself better.”

  “Rubbish,” said Nick as he walked into the room. Gabe jumped up ready to intercept an attacker and stopped when he saw who it was, though he still looked like he wanted to attack him.

  “You don’t knock?” Gabe asked with snark.

  “I go where I like,” he replied affording Gabe the smallest glance before returning his attention to me. “People like us don’t need to control ourselves. Others simply need to learn to show a little loyalty. What befell that vampire girl was a consequence of her own actions. You hold no blame.”

  “What a load of crap!” Gabe snapped.

  “Gabe,” I said sharply. I took a deep breath and spoke more calmly. “Why don’t you leave us to discuss things.” He looked at me in disbelief before storming sulkily out of the room.

  “Kids,” Nick said jovially as he lowered himself into Gabe’s seat. “So, still ready to join the winning team?”

  I nodded, trying to figure out how to bring up the resurrection issue. Should I just come out with it? Should I say it was a condition of me joining? No, because then he might refuse, and I’d have to turn down his alliance and frankly I wanted to be on Team Nick regardless.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked softly, providing me with the perfect opener.

  “Ashley.”

  “Ah, your former girlfriend. Still grieving. Of course, it hasn’t be that long.”

  “You brought someone you loved back from the dead,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

  “I did. But I told you, it isn’t possible anymore.”

  “There’s always a way,” I said desperately. He was family he had to help me.

  “Not always. Olivia was the only woman I ever loved. I lost her at the start of my immortality. I’d never felt such pain. It was like somebody had ripped a part of me away and hidden it where I could never find it.”

  I nodded. I knew that feeling all too well.

  “For six-hundred years I worked towards one goal. Reuniting myself with Olivia. Everything I did served that purpose. And finally, just a few years ago I did it. I brought her back from the dead. And it was so… disappointing.”

  That was not what I’d been expecting. I knew that his story didn’t have a happy ending or else he wouldn’t be alone now, but I wasn’t expecting that. “How could you be disappointed by getting something you’d spent six centuries working for? How could that be anything less than pure bliss?” I demanded.

  “Because…” he paused. “Death changes people. The Olivia who came back was not the same as the one who had died. I didn’t love the resurrected one. She’d had six-hundred years on the other side. It was naive of me to think she’d be the same person I’d lost. Bringing her back only tarnished my memory of her and ruined what I felt.

  “She tried to change me. She wanted me to do things her way. I could never truly be myself. When I finally let her go I was liberated. I could finally release my full potential. Six-hundred years I wasted on bringing her back. Think of what I could have done with that time. It did teach me a very valuable lesson, however. Love is a waste of time.”

  I shook my head. Ashley wasn’t a waste of time. He was wrong. “Ashley’s only been dead weeks. She cannot have changed already,” I argued. The pitying expression he gave me made me feel so pathetic, like a junky begging for a fix.

  “It cannot be done, Eddie. It would take twelve willing sacrifice
s from incredibly powerful beings. Even if you could find that, the key ingredient is still missing. We don’t have any ambrosia.”

  “Ambrosia. What is that? How do we make it?”

  Nick laughed. “In all my time in this world I have never discovered how to make ambrosia or even where to find it. It could be a manmade potion, or it could be natural resource. I really have no idea.”

  “There must be a way,” I said quietly.

  He sighed. “I’ll tell you what. You get some ambrosia and I’ll solve all your problems. Ambrosia has two functions. It can bring back the dead and make true immortals. Like me. You get hold of some and I’ll bring back Ashley and make you immortal and then you won’t have to worry about that pesky prophecy.”

  “You’d make me immortal?” I said, stunned. I’d only just met him, and he was willing to give me one of the greatest gifts possible.

  “Eddie, you’re all I have now. I’m hardly going to let my last living descendent die.”

  My cheeks flushed. I don’t know why I felt embarrassed, but I did. I felt like a girl who’s being proposed to in a public place. One who wants to be proposed to. I’d be feeling a very different kind of embarrassment if not.

  “Now, if we can put all that to the side for the time being we have other matters to attend. We need to bring down the Alliance of Covens.”

  “Alright.” It was hard to push aside my hopes to resurrect my girlfriend, but he’d given me the best answer he could. All I had to do was obtain an unobtainable potion and he would do the ritual for me. I pushed that to the back of my mind and tried to concentrate on his plan to destroy Clara. “How?”

  “It’s simple enough. We need to break the spell protecting that building Clara is hiding inside. You are the key.”

  “Yeah, I’m not going back there.”

  Nick smiled and nodded. “Oh, yes you are. But don’t worry, you’ll have my power to protect you.”

  “Even your power can’t overcome that spell.”

  “Actually, it can. When coupled with your ability. Your ability will work despite the spell. You just need to boost it. I’m going to link you to me, so my power will give you a boost and you’ll be able to siphon the magic through the building and out of the sorcerers.” He made it all sound so simple.

  “Except that all that power will kill me,” I pointed out. I had no plans to be reunited with Ashley by dying myself.

  “Maybe that’s what the prophecy foretold?” he said with a very annoying grin. Was that where I got it from? “Joking,” he added. “They’ll break the spell before they let you take much power. So, don’t worry.”

  “I’ll be honest, I am worrying a little bit,” I confessed.

  “Don’t you want to face Clara again? Get her back for what she did to you?” he said. His words worked at me perfectly. I wanted to hurt her just like she’d hurt me. Betrayal deserves revenge.

  “Yes.”

  “Then trust that I know what I’m doing.” Nick was a very persuasive man. I wasn’t sure how he pulled it off, but it was another of his talents that I wanted to learn.

  “Okay,” I said, convinced. “Tell me exactly what I need to do.”

  “Gladly,” he said with a sly smile and then he began telling me the plan. It wasn’t complicated at all but was incredibly risky. It all relied on Clara being stupid enough to think she could still talk me round to her cause. We both agreed that she was that naive.

  When Nick was finished telling me the plan he stood up and planted his foot on his chair. I looked at him, wondering if there was going to be an explanation to this sudden gesture. He said nothing. He lifted the hem of his jeans and revealed tucked within his boot a dagger which he drew out. The blade was long and looked like it was made of solid gold. The tip looked so sharp it could cut with the smallest of touches. Along the golden surface were black etchings forming what looked like several rivers that stretched across the metal. Or maybe they were roots. Or veins. The hilt was black and pentagonal, each of the five sides was encrusted with glimmering rubies. I gasped. I knew what it was. The Ambrotos Dagger. It made sense that he would keep the one weapon that could be used against him on his person. Clara really was deluded if she thought she was going to get it off him.

  “I need to bind us, so you’ll have the power to drain the building. You will essentially be using me like a giant battery,” he said. He wrapped his fingers around the blade and then ran it through his fist. Radiant red blood drizzled down and dripped onto the dining table. Margie would be having a fit if she was still alive. If she was still alive I doubt that Nick would ever have been allowed to set foot in her house. He held out his unwounded hand and I presented my own palm.

  “Won’t drawing power from you kill me? I mean, I can’t hold your magic,” I said. He ran the blade along my palm lightly and I winced as a long gash opened up. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would. The blade burned with a molten fire. Nick pressed his wound to mine and we enclosed our hands round each other’s. It was like becoming blood brothers with a childhood friend. Not that I ever had any. Not real friends anyway.

  If I thought the blade burned it was nothing compared to this. I actually grunted in pain as it felt like lava itself was being poured into my bloodstream. “It will be over in a moment.” His words did nothing to soothe me. I’d relax when it was over. Our mingled blood ran down my arm and looped around my wrist. The blood seemed to seep into my flesh and then the flesh raised in a red scar that encircled my wrist like a bracelet. Once the loop was complete the pain was gone. It didn’t fade it just stopped. I looked at Nick and saw that he had a blood bracelet on his wrist as well. He released my hand and I saw that my palm was now healed. There was no sign that I’d ever been cut.

  “My magic will not harm you because it will never be truly inside you,” he said as he cleaned the blood off him with one of my tea towels. When he was finished he tossed it to me so I could do the same. Another thing that Margie would freak out about. “You’ll basically be channelling me. Go ahead. Draw on my power now to show yourself that you’re in no danger.”

  It was a strange sensation having Nick’s power available to me. It was like being hooked up to a battery that I could access with just a flip of the switch. I flipped that switch and drew Nick’s power into me. It was like getting drunk incredibly fast. I felt it flowing into me gradually at first, travelling through me, making me giddy. I enjoyed the sensation so I widened the channel. I lost control as it poured into every available space inside me. I felt like I was flying, soaring through the clouds. I saw my veins glowing with orangey-red radiance beneath my skin. I felt… nothing. It was gone in a flash and I collapsed to the floor like I weighed a hundred tonnes. I suddenly felt so empty and frail and fragile.

  “I had to cut you off, you were getting a bit eager,” Nick said.

  “Oh, I uh…” He offered me his hand and then hauled my up into one of the chairs. “I couldn’t stop it.”

  Nick nodded. “I know the feeling. Quite a rush.” He sat down with me and gripped my forearm. The weakness left me and I felt a little stronger.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “So, now you see that you’re in no real danger. I can cut you off at any time.”

  “Yeah. I see that now.”

  “Are you ready to get on with this?” he asked me. His eyes were completely serious now, no playful glint. It was time for business.

  “Let’s do it,” I said. It was time to teach Clara why she shouldn’t have fucked with me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “I never thought I’d be back here,” I said to Gabe. We were standing in the road staring up at the AOC building. Less than twenty-four hours ago I’d been a prisoner in there and now here I was about to walk back in. If Clara was smart she’d arrest me at once. She’d notice the binding spell and try to break it. Nick said it wouldn’t be too hard to break it once I was inside the building because his magic would be useless in its conventional sense. Its only function would be to
boost my ability. So, if Nick had misjudged Clara’s character and she did arrest me then I was a little bit fucked. Although it was unlikely that Nick would leave me to rot in there. Not after all that stuff he’d said about family. He’d come for me. Wouldn’t he?

  “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Gabe said. I had wanted to bring all the vampires, but Gabe was reluctant to endanger anyone other than himself. He also pointed out that he was the only one who could actually enter the building. Nick said he was certain Clara would not attack anyway so extra muscle was not a requirement. “We can go back to Maidstone where we belong. Clara will not touch you as long as you don’t get involved in this war.” I could hear the desperation in his voice.

  It was tempting to go back, but I had to go through with it. I had to show Clara that I was no pushover. That she could not go about doing as she pleased. People were not her pawns to be locked up or done whatever with. She was not in charge and as long as I had any power she never would be.

  “She already touched me. She kidnapped me, remember? And she did that whilst I was in Maidstone. Today she answers for that.” I took a calming breath and then reached out to Nick’s power. I didn’t take any I touched it to make sure it was still there. It would be incredibly embarrassing if I went in and was unable to siphon anything because the bind had broken accidentally. That wasn’t going to happen, though.

  I walked towards the building. It looked calm, almost tranquil. There were no corpses on the ground. No sign that there ever had been. No flashing red lights. No guards on sentry. Not on the outside anyway. I knew there’d be security swarming the building on the other side of the glass. Clara would have them on red alert. She’d want everything to appear calm even though it was anything but. As I walked up the path it suddenly occurred to me that a smart person would have removed myself and Gabe from the approved persons list meaning we wouldn’t be able to get in. How could Nick have overlooked that? I mean, I overlook stuff all the time so I’m used to missing the occasional detail, but Nick’s supposed to a be an evil genius. I guessed he believed Clara would not have banned us from the building. Maybe it wasn’t possible.