Bound by Magic Chapter 9

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CHAPTER 9

Kayla

PELLAN JUMPED ONTO THE MAT, calling the magic from the circle of mages surrounding them. Colorful streams brightened the room, but Kayla’s magic was quicker.

Boiling over from somewhere deep inside of her, it exploded. The binds constricting her shattered into a puff of hazy green mist. In a rush, it zoomed past Theo’s barrier and to Garrick, encasing him, shielding him from the flames.

Traces of her magic dashed around him, searching for injury, but came up empty. He wasn’t hurt. The flames weren’t real.

“See how easy that was?” Theo was looking at Pellan, but Garrick was on his feet, advancing to the mage faster than she could comprehend. His thick body moved with the agility of a cat—nimble, quick, and every bit the vampire everyone feared. A true hunter.

With her magic around him, he seemed unstoppable. He tore through the line of mages jumping in front of him until he reached Theo. When he stopped, his hands were around Theo’s throat.

“You don’t get to harm her and live.” Garrick’s voice was deadly as his fingers dug into his throat.

“Get off me, vampire.”

“Make me.” He sneered. “Isn’t that what you told her?”

Theo, on the defensive this time, tried to use his magic to grab Garrick’s arm. On impact, it electrified around him in waves, then fell to the floor. Her magic shielded him from the blow. He squeezed Theo’s throat tighter.

“Cha! Not so fun being the guinea rat, is it?” There was no triumph in his voice, only resolve.

“Garrick,” Pellan commanded. “Enough.”

“I do not take my orders from you.”

Every mage in the room reacted. Their magic swirled around Garrick’s feet and up his body, looking for a weakness in her defense. Her magic weaved tighter, blocking them out. Theo choked violently. His presence, which had been hot, blazed hotter, like a star ready to go supernova.

“It was… just a… test…” Theo choked out. The sides of his face were blistering red.

“Then, so is this.” Garrick kept his gaze on the withering mage. “Fend me off or you die.”

The heat rolling off of Theo was off the charts. Like he was going to combust with Garrick in the line of fire.

“Garrick,” Kayla breathed. “Please, don’t.”

“He hurt you.” He didn’t look away from the mage under his grasp. Instead, his sneer became more pronounced as his jaw set into stone. All of the available magic in the room went on the attack to fend her off, raking across her body, tugging at her. She could feel her magic slipping. It was getting harder to hold on to it.

“I’m fine now. See?” she said quickly when his grip didn’t loosen. “But if you don’t stop, he won’t be.”

“Then, so be it.”

“You don’t understand. I can feel him, Garrick. I can feel him dying.”

Garrick’s glassy black eyes barely glanced at her, but he softened. The hand constricting around Theo’s throat relaxed, but not quick enough. Theo’s magic rebounded.

A blast of heat burned through her as Theo’s magic obliterated the protective barrier around Garrick. It was like she’d simultaneously taken a sucker punch to the face, the gut, then hit by a runaway locomotive. She staggered back.

Her stomach burned, then her chest, then blood poured from her nose. Her heart pounded so hard she thought it might come up out of her mouth. Then, her head became too heavy to hold up.

“Something’s not…” she didn’t get to finish the statement. Her eyes rolled and the last thing she saw was Garrick racing to her side.

—

“She’s all right. She’s fine,” a woman repeated above her head. “Her magic was overextended, that’s all. Back up, she’s fine.”

“She’s still bleeding from her nose,” Garrick said from beside her, voice coated in worry.

“Yes, overexertion will do that to a mage.” The woman’s shadow hovered above her. Her soft hands checked several points on her face. Kayla tried to open her eyes, but a blinding light made it impossible to see anything. “She’s coming to now.”

Kayla blinked several times, trying to move her head away from the light.

“Well, there you are.” A woman with a kind, round face smiled as she sat up against a wave of dizziness. “Oh, not too fast.”

“What happened?” Her words thickened in her throat.

“You became unconscious,” Garrick said, his warm hand stroking hers.

Foremages, every set of eyes in the room was on her, and she suddenly sympathized with all the fish at the aquarium. Embarrassment rose on her cheeks. Only she could manage to pass out on her first day of training.

“Your magic has been pushed too far, too quickly.” The woman gave Theo a sharp look, then tsked as she checked her neck and her shoulders. Pale white magic grazed every place she touched. “You should have been brought straight to me for an evaluation before you began. You have no physical injuries, thank the foremages, but we should get you checked out, run a scan of your magic. Can you stand?”

She nodded. Garrick helped her off the floor, her father half a step behind, raising her other side. For once, her father wasn’t at Garrick’s throat or sour because he was touching her. She tried for a step forward, but her knee weakened under her weight. The floor was coming at her face faster than a 90-mph fast ball.

“Hey there.” Garrick caught her before she toppled over.

“This will not do.” The medic tsked again, shooting another look of disapproval to Theo. “We’ll need a lift.”

“I can take her.” Garrick’s large palms wrapped protectively around her waist like he didn’t like the idea of anyone else touching her. Even though it shouldn’t, the thought made her glow. She liked his protectiveness. She liked it even more when he lifted her like she weighed no more than a feather and cradled her against his very well-defined chest.

“It’s okay. I can walk.” There was absolutely no fight in her statement as she laid her head against Garrick’s chest and listened to his heartbeat. Low but steady, it thumped in a stable rhythm, unlike hers that was going completely bonkers being so close to him.

Foremages, she was doing it again. Acting like a horndog in front of the watchful gaze of an entire room. Quickly, she stilled the rogue hand that took up stroking his chest.

“Sorry.” She cleared her throat and tried to force her hand away, but Garrick cradled her tighter.

“This way. Follow me. I’ll send word of our arrival so the others can prepare.” A wisp of her silver magic raced through the air and out of the room.

“Hela,” Pellan called as the small woman walked to the entrance. “Let me know your results.”

“Of course, sir.” Hela straightened the small white medic’s hat on her head as Pellan whipped sharply toward Theo, grabbing the collar of his shirt.

“We need to talk.”

Pellan’s magic swirled around Theo and they disappeared. Looked like someone was getting called to the principal’s office. Served him right, really. He was lucky Garrick hadn’t killed him. Although, considering Pellan’s jaded expression, Garrick was the least of his worries.

“Well then.” Hela cleared her throat as they watched their terse departure, and motioned to the towering entrance doors. “If you’ll follow me.”

“We’re not going to leave like them?” She pointed to the open air where Pellan had taken Theo away.

“No, no. You’re overtaxed. Magical transport might make it worse.”

Hela’s short hair bounced as she led them through some corridors that didn’t seem to have a single window in them, all the while Garrick carried her as if she weighed nothing.

This was the closest they’d been to each other in days. Ever since his first feeding, he’d put as much distance between them as their small room would allow. The rare touch when they trained her magic was all that she was ever rewarded, but this seemed different.

His fierceness against Theo rivaled the tenacity he had against the wolves, but this time, he was more possessive. And that was a damn turn on.

Why did she have to pass out in the training arena anyway?

They could be back in their room with her magic freely wrapping around him as he kissed her again and again. But no, she had to overexert herself.

Her magic, which had no qualms about going to him before, didn’t even make the attempt to come out. Not even a spark.

She tried to force it from her hands, the epicenter of its hazardous reign, but it didn’t budge.

“It’s best if you don’t try to use your magic right now,” Hela said softly over her shoulder, bringing them to a flight of stairs.

“I wasn’t doing anything.” The words spewed out lightning fast.

Hela’s brow raised in a pointed look that told her to cut it out. She knew it was a bald-faced lie, but she spoke to Garrick anyway. “Do you need assistance bringing her up?”

“I can carry her.” The words were confident and quick.

She liked that too. He was always so self-assured and calm.

Foremages, she must’ve really hit the ground hard. He was only helping her get to the doctor’s office, nothing else. She was the only one that ached in this scenario. Her magic chose him; he didn’t choose her. She had to remember that.

They were here for a reason—get her magic straightened out so he could go back home. She kept her wayward hands in check for the rest of the journey to the doctor’s.

“This is our medical ward.” Hela motioned to the cherry-red brick archway with a large wooden hospital cross dangling from the keystone.

“Through there is the emergency center.” She pointed to a closed door on her left, then led them through a hall of several doors before picking one. “And in here, we have our examination and recovery room.”

The doors opened to a large infirmary ward with massive floor-to-ceiling arched windows along one side and a neat row of beds on the other. Although instead of the bright sun-soaked room she was expecting, a rather tall mage with dark freckles drew the last of the curtains closed.

“Rodrick, is her area ready?”

Of course, they needed to be careful of her magic, but there wasn’t anyone in the room outside of Rodrick. Not that there would be; mages hardly got sick and their innate magic could heal a vast number of injuries, kind of rendering an infirmary pointless.

“Oh, Mom… erm… Hela.” He looked strangely caught off guard by their presence. “You’re here. I was just closing the drapes. I heard we had a vampire coming, so I wanted to make sure he was comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Garrick said.

“Shouldn’t have,” her father said from a waiting chair just inside of the room, startling her. “He can walk in the sun.”

Hela’s gasp flew through the room. Her wide silver eyes landed on Garrick, and she backed away a few steps.

“Y-you can?”

“Yes, her magic allows it.” Her father motioned to her.

Hela’s entire body deflated with relief. “Oh, I see.”

“Actually—” she started, but stopped when Garrick’s hold tightened. He shook his head subtly. It was better they let them believe her magic made him a day walker, even though they both knew the truth. He was born with the ability to walk in the sun. So, she let the sentence go as Garrick set her down on a wide bed in the farthest corner of the room.

“Rodrick, this is Kayla and Garrick. You’ve met her father, Donovan,” Hela introduced them all.

Rodrick brightened and took her outstretched hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re all anyone seems to talk about, you know, with you being new and all,” he blurted, then cleared his throat. When he turned to Garrick, he swallowed hard.

Fear flickered through his polite smile as he straightened the small white hat on his head and gave Garrick a quick once-over.

“I’ve never met a vampire before,” he said in a whisper.

“I am called Garrick.” He kept distance, waiting for Rodrick to put his hand out first before he took it.

“Rodrick. Erm, you know that. I am the infirmary attendant here.”

“He’s too modest. He’s the best medic we have,” Hela chime d in.

“She says that because she’s my mom.” He chuckled and pushed a small table filled with several glass blood collection vials and a few instruments she’d never seen before to the edge of her bed. “I have everything all set up for you.”

“Thank you, Rodrick.” Hela pulled up a chair to the edge of her bed. “Has your magic gone out like this before?”

“Only once.” She recounted the incident with the wolves and how her magic suddenly went away.

“Ah, that can happen to young ones during a particular period of high stress. I’m glad you made it to the safety of our halls. I hear you normally have control issues when it comes to your magic?”

Did everyone know she was a ticking time bomb like Chem said? She nodded, unable to form the word yes around the lump of embarrassment in her throat.

“It’ll stabilize. Do you mind if I run a preliminary scan?”

Kayla nodded and watched the woman’s pale magic grace over her exposed skin.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she continued on. “You’ve been on the wrong frequency, so to speak. It can happen sometimes when you’re not around mages.”

“Or a lot of them,” her father corrected.

“Yes.” Hela nodded behind her clipboard. “We do better within a mage community than alone or in small groups.”

“So, I’m better because I’m here.” Her eyes darted to Garrick. He was right, which meant he was one step closer to walking out of that door. She sank in disappointment.

“To a certain extent. Being in our community, your bond with your vampire, all help. But you’re very powerful in your own right. It’s no wonder you’ve been having a hard time controlling your magic. On the run or not, you should have been brought to the nearest Council of Elders once you started presenting,” the last bit was punctuated by a click of disapproval toward her dad.

Her father’s lips pursed into a line, but he didn’t rebut her.

“They would have been able to help you harness it from childhood. No matter. You’ve started off late in life, but with some training, you might be able to harness the strength inside you yet, and I’m going to find the best pathway toward that.”

Hela gathered several clear vials and sat them on a tray.

“We’ll run some tests. The first are basic blood tests, ensuring your vitamin levels and overall health haven’t suffered because your magic has been sporadic. Afterward, we’ll run a test of your magical signatures.”

“What’s that?” She looked at her dad, who found the cracks in the stone floor very appealing at that moment.

“Magical signatures are a group of markers, like a human fingerprint. Each mage has a marker that is unique to them, but all markers are categorized into families called affinities. If we can find your signature and affinity, we can better help train you. We can also make sure you’re around other mages with the same marker groups. That’ll help keep you calibrated until you’re used to controlling it on your own.”

Hela swung the monitor she’d been looking at around. It was nothing more than a slightly blurry screen with three horizontal lines running across it.

“This”—she pointed at the two bottom lines—“will help me determine your affinity. This one down here will show me your signature, and the bottom line will determine your marker family. I just need to apply the sensor pads.”

Hela placed two adhesive pads on her palms, one near her collarbone and the final one on her stomach. Then connected each of them to the monitor.

“Mages’ vital points are so much different than humans’,” Hela explained as if she’d suspected the question before Kayla had the chance to ask it. “Our magic hides in strange places.”

“Will that work even though my magic is gone?” she asked once the monitor started running. Several numbers appeared on the screen, but the lines remained still.

Hela chuckled slightly. “Oh no, dear, your magic isn’t completely gone. It goes dormant while it recharges. This will still pick it up.”

Hela moved to the head of the bed and gently pressed her hands to her temples.

“You just need a gentle kickstart. I’m going to give you a little of my healing magic. Your body will respond to it and I’ll be able to see your signatures. This might pinch,” she warned.

From the corner of her eye, a bolt of silver magic flashed on the side of her face. There wasn’t any pinch, but she felt Hela’s magic push its way into her temple. Unlike what she’d expected to happen—the hellfire of her magic charging after her—her magic remained docile as it pushed back.

“Here we go.” Hela eagerly watched the monitor as it started to react to her magic. Her hands warmed just a touch, but remained calm as Hela studied the screen. “Huh. I’m not getting a definite reading.”

Hela rubbed the adhesive patches on her hands to make sure they were correctly applied, then tried again. Another spark of silver flashed. A long moment passed and Hela pulled the screen closer to read it.

“That’s not right.” She bit her bottom lip. “Your magical signature is fire, yet something else is here, which can’t be the case. That’s like having two sets of fingerprints on top of each other. Let me run it again. Can you lean back?”

A tight lump lodged in her esophagus. She knew it. Deep down, she knew she was a freak. No wonder her magic had been out of control.

Several more sparks flashed as Hela coaxed her magic again. It pushed back a little stronger this time.

Hela finished her scan and sat back to stare at the monitor. There were lines all over the place. How could she possibly know what any of it meant?

Hela’s black brows collapsed into a unibrow as she stared at the screen so long, it looked like she’d gone into a trance.

“This is impossible.” She looked toward her, then back at the monitor, her face ashen.

Why did it suddenly feel like the bottom was being dropped from under her? She dreaded the answer, but she needed to know why Hela was suddenly so jumpy after reading the results.

“What’s impossible?”

“The magic in you. It’s not yours.”