Bound by Magic Chapter 14

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CHAPTER 14

Kayla

THEO’S EYES FLASHED GOLD as his magic sparked, diverting from her wound, and weaving its way into Garrick the same way hers had. Her heart pounded in her ears as she watched the mist seep into him. A moment later, Theo’s magic diverted to her and did the same, just as it had at the cathedral.

A moment past and the room grew hot. Beads of sweat formed on her brow and she really wanted to peel the towel off her and lay on the cool tile beneath her. Then the most excruciating pain tossed her back. It was like bathing in lava, while thousands of the glass shards cut her skin.

She could endure it, but when Garrick’s body started to convulse, flashes of the night she was abducted took hold. The memory of what the Syste had done to Derrek—using his stolen magic to squeeze the life out of her body guard—blurred her vision. Garrick’s hands left hers, then found the floor, digging into it with his vampire strength. Dust and smoke created tiny mountains around his fingers as he gripped them for dear life.

Her magic shifted, ripping away from Garrick as Theo’s eyes flashed gold and green. The air started to constrict around her chest, setting her heart in an uneasy rhythm.

No, this wasn’t right. Her magic should have been coaxing from his throat, but all she could feel was getting torn away from Garrick like he was becoming farther and farther away.

“Theo, stop. This isn’t right.”

“Do you want me to save him or not?” he pressed. His face betrayed nothing, not a glint of malice nor reassurance. He was blank as a sheet.

Nodding, she gritted her teeth as she watched another stream of magic come from Theo’s palms and soak into Garrick’s skin.

It hurt to have her eyes open; she could only imagine what Garrick was going through. He was in full vampire mode—at least that’s what she called it. His eyes were shiny black, his fangs were long, and his body was hot to the touch. But the blood leaking from his eyes didn’t seem right.

In fact, it seemed very, very wrong.

“Got it,” Theo said.

Garrick’s eyes rolled back.

Got what? Her magic? It didn’t look like it, but when his wrists flicked, she felt as if he’d grabbed a hold of her throat with all of his force and squeezed. A half yelp bounced off the walls, coming from her throat. Another wave of pain tore through her body, hot like the sun, heating her from the inside. Boiling her stomach where her injury was, then racing across her back, then split her body down the middle.

Stop. She tried to tell him to stop. That whatever he was doing was killing her, but her tongue grew thick and so did her words. Specks of black inked her vision as she blinked.

Theo had to have felt what he was doing to her. All mages felt their kind. He had to know what he was doing made it impossible to breathe. Or see. Or think.

With her remaining energy, Kayla looked at her hands. Her magic should rebound. It should come out of her any minute. Her palms seemed to glow.

Or that could have been her imagination or the reflection of the light or a hundred other things, but her mind was too weak to process it.

Stop. Her mind lashed out, searching for her magic again. Surely, it was still with her. Somewhere tethered. She just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to find it.

“Kay-la,” Garrick squeezed out through a strained breath.

Something in her sparked. Her eyes opened. He needed her to save him. He didn’t deserve this. If Theo killed her, Garrick would be killed too. But what could she do? She could barely breathe through the fire roasting her lungs to coal.

She stared up at the ceiling. Waves of magic rippled across the ceiling. Foremages, she could see the protection spell. She’d never noticed it before, but then again, every time she’d been staring at the ceiling, her mind had been preoccupied with the vampire next to her. Now, saving him was all she could think about.

If only she could call the protection magic to her, wrap it around her and Garrick, Theo would stop. She focused on it. The waves slowed to a gentle ripple. Was she making that happen? She couldn’t be sure, but she asked it to go to Garrick, just as she sent her own magic to him countless times.

Go to him. Protect him.

To her shock, it moved. A strand of it, lit like a rainbow as it peeled away from the ceiling, ran down the walls and entered his hand. A long black stream of magic poured out of Garrick’s mouth. Instantly, she felt the relief, like pressure being released from a balloon with too much air.

Theo’s magic jumped back as he saw what she was doing.

“What are you doing?” he asked in shock. Her unfocused gaze found Theo’s fearful one as he looked at her.

“Hurting. Us,” she scraped out. Her essence intertwined with the protection magic as it chased the black magic out of him. When a rope of black mist hit the floor, it darted away before being captured by the protection magic. Theo hissed, wincing in pain as his magic was forced out of him too.

“How are you doing that? You shouldn’t be able to do that.” The fear on his face multiplied as his hands frantically hovered Garrick as he watched the ceiling. His eyes flashed in understanding. “You’re using our protection magic. You have to let it go.”

No. Not until Theo realized he was hurting them.

“Kayla, listen to me. You have to release the protection magic and send it away from you. Now.”

His voice was stern, but she was in too much of a haze to understand why he was so adamant.

“Come on, let it go. That’s what’s holding our compound together. It’s our safeguards. If you don’t let it go, it will break, and you’ll put us all at risk.”

She tried to, but the magic resisted her call like her magic had. It didn’t want to obey. Defiantly, it rolled up Garrick’s body in waves and refused to divert from him.

“Kayla, please.”

“I’m trying,” she said, feeling her strength coming back to her now that her magic had been released. “It won’t let me.”

Grinding his teeth, Theo’s magic glowed as it released from his hands and weaved across the floor to Garrick.

Flashes of light sparked as the two magics met. Then the sparks became violent as the protection magic dissolved Theo’s.

“Come on,” he muttered.

When he tried again, the protection magic rebounded, blowing him back. He never really stood a chance. Not against the power emanating from the impenetrable barrier circling Garrick.

Yet, Theo wasn’t one to be bested. Like in the training arena, Theo’s magic came out in quick blips all aimed at the protective barrier, until it was able to latch on like a spider around its prey.

“That’s it,” Theo said to himself.

But she kept a careful watch on Garrick’s expressions. So far he seemed unharmed, but who knew for how long. She had no idea what devastation might happen if the protection magic rebounded with Garrick trapped underneath. Her magic tightened around him.

“Don’t do that,” Theo said.

She wasn’t doing anything. Hadn’t he realized that by now? Her magic worked on instinct—and its own accord. If it wanted to protect Garrick, it did. There was nothing she could do to stop it.

If Theo had been more careful. If he’d taken hints from his magical queues and eased up on wrangling her magic, she wouldn’t have even attempted to pull the protective magic around them. Heck, she wasn’t even sure how she was able to accomplish it in the first place.

But now that she did, it seemed its careful stability waned. The ripples above them became more pronounced as Theo grabbed hold of the magic, then in faster and faster waves, it tried to get him off of it.

The magic swirled, larger than the cloud that had formed in the bathroom. Larger than anything she’d ever seen. It built up to the ceiling before spilling into their room. An inferno lit, heating the room as Theo battled the protection magic, trying to put it back into place.

However, it refused his call.

It didn’t want to go as it dodged his essence. A deep hum filled the room, then built to a dizzying buzz.

“Come on.” Theo bit his bottom lip, then put everything he had into its containment. The clash of it was so bright, she was sure it burned her retinas. Blue light encased the room, then red, then white. The lights flickered. The ground beneath her feet shook.

She’d been around explosive magic her entire life. She knew the signs. It was like being in the center of the sun as the earth tore apart. A second later, Garrick’s body was on top of hers, shielding her as if he also knew what was coming.

“You should—” The words didn’t have the chance to leave her mouth before the magic exploded. A sour mix of burning rubber and molten metal permeated the air, but otherwise they were unharmed. Theo’s magic reset, calling to him as he watched in shock as the magic left a charred mark on the ceiling.

The colorful, rainbow-like magic peeled away from the ceiling, systematically shutting down. Piece by piece until it fizzled out. The room, which had been burning hot, cooled to ice. Every sound around them ceased.

“Oh, shit.”

The fright in Theo’s eyes intensified as several fissures burrowed from the epicenter of the blast, then down the walls. The fissures quickly turned into cracks large enough to fit her hand in.

A ball the size of her fist settled in her chest. That couldn’t be good.

And it wasn’t.

Above them, the cement of the ceiling split. Then the eeriest sound worked its way through the room as if it were moaning in pain. Dust fell from the cracks, then a small chunk, the size of a golf ball fell from the ceiling.

“We have to get out of here.” Theo stood and backed away as another small chunk of the ceiling fell.

Yeah, she saw that. Above them, the ceiling started to cave in.