Marie teleported Adrian closer to her. The vampires collided in midair and went down in a heap. She pressed her lips together but there was nothing she could do about her mistake now.
The vampire Adrian had been fighting got to his feet and looked around before his eyes settled on them. He glared in Adrian’s direction and crouched down, ready to go again when screams broke the silence. The dark haired vampire rolled around and clawed at his arm. His back arched as he screamed one last time. A long agonizing scream that ended when his body went limp. The blond vampire backed away. He looked at them before looking back down at the body. The vampire shook his head before he turned and fled. This time she was sure the vampire wasn’t coming back as she checked the tracking spell.
“What just happened?” Marie made her way over to the vampire on the ground and knelt beside him but she was careful not to touch him. Better not to chance anything. She read the talisman that was pasted to the arm he’d been clawing at. Marie stood and turned towards Adrian as he came up beside her.
“Curse. It was designed to leech the life out of whoever it was attached to.” And not in a painless way either. Even though the drain had been quick, they had wanted their victim to suffer. Curses were nasty spells that could only be used to harm others. They had no other function. She frowned. Marie wished she had more information on them. Knowledge would help her come up with ways to counteract them but given their forbidden nature the information was a closely guarded secret.
“Is the body safe to touch?” Adrian picked her up and jumped back before she could answer. Her body tensed causing pain to spread along her back and arm. She followed his gaze. The vampire had moved one last time. His arm still in the air, reaching for something. The arm fell to the ground and the vampire didn’t move anymore. “He’s dead.”
Marie used a quick spell to burn the body. It was better to get rid of it in case there were any other nasty surprises. Adrian didn’t speak for a moment as they waited until the body burned down to ashes.
“Where’s Mark?”
“Back at the house.”
“Can you get us there too?” Marie frowned. He was asking for more teleportation.
“Put me down.”
“Do you need to stand to teleport?”
“No.” He raised one eyebrow and waited. Tsk. Marie closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were back in her living room. “Now put me down.” But instead of putting her down, he went into the hallway and climbed the stairs. Mark was nowhere to be seen but the door next to her room was closed. Adrian probably got him out of the way since she was bleeding all over the living room floor. “I can walk.” She shifted her body a little hoping he would get the hint but it only caused her more pain. He ignored her. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he kicked her door open and placed her gently on the bed.
“Where’s the first aid kit?”
“I can take care of myself.” His eyes scanned the room but he wasn't going to find it that way. Marie liked to keep her first aid kit under the bed. “I don’t need your help.”
“Magic?” She nodded, hoping that would get him to go. “Heal yourself then.” He leaned against the wall and waited with his arms crossed. Marie had the urge to ignore the order but that would be foolish considering there were two vampires in her house. So she took a deep breath and sent magic to her shoulder first. It was the easiest to heal since the wound was smaller. Next she focused on her back. The wound was deeper and longer than the one on her arm and required more magic. More concentration too. Healing was never her forte. A sigh escaped her as she opened her eyes. She jerked back. Marie hadn’t been expecting his face to be just inches away from her own. He grabbed her and kept her from falling off the bed. He turned her shoulder and stared at where the wound had been. Finally, he let go and straightened up. He licked his hand, getting the blood that had gotten on it.
She frowned as she remembered to clean the blood from her shoulder and back. A little bit of magic was used to fix her shirt as well. With that done, she stood up and made her way downstairs. Any drops of blood she encountered on her way down, she cleaned up. The living room was the last room that needed cleaning. She didn’t understand why Adrian felt the need to stay behind her but it wasn’t a habit she enjoyed. Marie turned to ask him a question. Adrian had a strange look on his face before it disappeared into his normal polite mask.
“Is Mark joining us?” He seemed to consider it before an upstairs door slammed open followed by quick footsteps on the stairs. Mark rushed into the room and quickly inspected her.
“Are you ok? I heard you got injured.” Mark nodded but he kept checking her body. She frowned. Adrian didn’t need to tell him that.
“I’m fine.” She went into the study and carefully made her way around the piles of books on the floor.
“It looks like there’s more books on the ground than on the shelf.” She ignored Adrian as she continued to make her way over. Once she reached the back wall, she knelt and pulled out a false book. It was obvious it wasn’t a real book but she used it to store maps so it didn’t matter that it wasn’t well hidden. She stood and the room spun. Marie tried to take a step back to steady herself but she couldn’t go back any further. Adrian was right behind her, holding her shoulders. “Magic can’t fix blood loss?” It wasn’t just blood loss affecting her though.
“I got what I came here for.” He let her go but he stayed right behind her as she made her way back.
“What else do you need?”
“Just a table.” Mark grabbed one of the side tables and looked to her for directions. She pointed to a spot between the two sofas and he complied. Marie spread the map out on it. A spell was written in the air above the map before she put her hands out in front of her, about an inch away from the script. While she kept the tracking spell firmly in her thoughts, she slowly lowered her hands to the map. The script followed and once she touched the map, they disappeared. She exhaled after she was done. Adrian and Mark were already sitting down and staring at the map. Neither of them blinked as they followed the small ball of light as it moved along on the map.
She decided to take this moment to go to the kitchen.
[What are you doing?] Marie ignored him as she went into the kitchen. She heard him come up behind her but she continued to set up the coffee maker. [You shouldn’t move around when you’ve lost so much blood.]
“Did you want some?” He crossed his arms and leaned against the nearby counter.
“Yes.” Once the coffee was done, she poured them both a cup and handed his over. She took a sip from her cup as she went back to the living room. Mark glanced their way before looking back down. They sat in silence for several minutes as they watched the light zig zag back and forth across the map, never stopping in one place for very long.
“Um.” Mark stopped for a moment as he glanced at both of them. He cleared his throat before trying again. “What was that you did back there?”
“What was what?” She avoided Adrian’s eyes as she spoke.
“What you did to get me here. One minute I was at the junkyard, the next I was here.”
“Teleport.”
“Yeah, that. It was just...wow! I blinked and I was someplace else. Magic is amazing! This barrier was amazing too. Blocking all those attacks. I was able to get a few hits in too. I wish I could have a barrier like this on me all the time. I’d be able to fight too.” Mark put his arms up and punched the air. He stopped mid-punch and snapped to attention and bowed his head with a mumbled apology.
“Did you recognize any of the men there?” She pointed her question at Mark. He frowned.
“No.”
“I didn’t recognize any of the ones that attacked us on our way there or the ones following Mark.” So neither of them recognized any of their attackers. There was no way it would be that easy but she needed to ask. She would have to hope that tracking them would provide some kind of lead.
Silence returned as they went back to staring at the map. Her thoughts turned inward. She had used her teleportation in front of others. Not just once but several times. It was for a good reason but she was already regretting it. She stopped that thought and focused on keeping her emotions calm. With two vampires in the room, she didn’t need them to start focusing on her. As long as her secrets weren’t exposed, she shouldn’t dwell on the issue and move on. There were other, more immediate things that required her attention. Like what was she going to do if this lead led nowhere?
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