Chapter 4

Chloe and I made it to the highway before we spotted Ricardo in a black SUV. Between the two of us, my car was completely shielded from damage or from being knocked over directly, but that didn’t stop Ricardo from trying to stop us by using the other cars on the highway. At one point, we got lucky when one of his own spells backfired and he was stuck in a pileup while we drove on.

For a moment, I felt relieved. True, others had tried to kill me, but not with Magic. On top of that, I had no intention of killing Ricardo by way of magic or even accident, and yet I could not think of a way to sufficiently stop his murderous rampage.

Chloe glanced at me. “How long until your flight leaves?”

I shook my head and looked at the dashboard clock. “Not for another two and a half hours.”

She shook her head. “He’ll find you if you sit around the airport for that long.”

I glanced behind us. There was nothing there. The pileup had closed down the highway. “How could he know where I’m going?”

“He may have tagged the car,” she said. “Or you. He may know ways of tracking someone no matter how far away they get.”

“Okay, if that’s the case, then I need to find a place to face him.”

“No,” she said. “You may be a House Lord, but you are far from ready for that kind of fight.”

I looked at her. “I know what Michael and Greta know. If truth be told, he’s not ready for me.” It was true. When we forged our bonds, I gained experience, both magical and mundane, from both of my House Guardians. At the time, the only benefit they received was magical freedom from the Lockdown. As Guardians, they had to know combat and defensive spells, which didn’t translate directly to how I understood what they could do. And since they doubled as my Stirpi, they were away on errands when Ricardo struck.

Chloe shook her head. “Do you know how to stop the fire he threw at us? Other than simply blocking it?”

“Isn’t that along the lines of cutting off someone’s spell casting?”

She nodded. “In a way, yes.”

I nodded too, remembering how the Lockdown worked. “I know one way, syphoning away their energy when they cast their spells.”

She looked at me. She stared for so long that I had to remind her to look at the road again.

“Are you telling me you know how to do that?” she asked. “You’ve actually cast such a spell?”

I thought about it. “No, but I know the theory.”

She made a growling, frustrated noise. “Theory is not going to save your ass from the likes of him.”

“And running away is?” I asked.

“It will give you time to learn,” she said. “The problem is, simply hiding somewhere nearby isn’t enough. You need to get out of the state for the time being, and hope he loses his patience trying to find you.”

“I also have to hope he doesn’t decide to take things out on you or the others just to get me to come home.”

Chloe looked at me. “I can handle myself, and you have two House Guardians who are going to make it their personal jobs to find this guy and drag him off to Austin for breaking the Laws of Secrecy.”

I recalled Valory’s last spell before she disappeared. Though I didn’t know what she cast at the time, I later found out that she had severed all Padrone-Stirpe bonds from the local Council Representative, Ms. Blake Mendenhall, down to the lowest levels of that branch of the hierarchy. The last I heard, they were still trying to recuperate weeks after that attack. I looked at Chloe. “Do you think they would be ready for that?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. The attack may have crippled the hierarchy in this region, but that doesn’t stop them from being responsible for day-to-day issues.”

“No more than my lack of experience makes me less than responsible for this,” I said.

She growled again. “The difference is, they retained their experience in what to do, but you haven’t even learned it yet. You were lucky today.”

“What do you mean?”

She nodded. “He could have attacked you in any number of ways that would have been invisible, quiet, subtle, and left you just as dead. Yet, he chose fire. It’s not exactly the most covert attack.”

“So, then you’re suggesting that I go ahead and leave immediately for Virginia rather than wait on the others and catch the flight we had booked. All the while, you, Michael, and Greta will find and catch Ricardo with the intent of having him ... I don’t know, convicted of breaking the Laws of Secrecy?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Her confirmation didn’t exactly put me at ease. I didn’t like the idea of not being involved in this. It was probably one of the many things I wouldn’t like about being a House Lord. I understood her concern, but how was I supposed to help those who chose to follow me if I cut and run when there was danger? It didn’t feel right.

Unfortunately, she was also right about me being unprepared for Ricardo’s attack. I had no idea how to stop his attacks. Worse, should he switch to those subtle forms of combat she described, I would be even less prepared simply because I wouldn’t see them coming. I had to focus on something else for now.

“What about my apartment?” I asked, toning down my voice to reasonable-sounding. “I don’t have the kind of money it would take to replace everything I just lost.”

“Worry about that after you return,” she said. “Right now, you need to make some calls and see if there are any other flights leaving sooner.”

Again, she was right. It would be a lot easier to recover from the fire without Ricardo trying to kill me.

For a second, I wondered if there would ever be a conversation we had when I was right.

I called the airport. Unfortunately, due to the time of year, all flights were either fully loaded or overbooked. There were lines of people at the airport waiting for someone else to cancel so they could have the seat. The person I talked to flat out said not miss my flight unless I was already on another plane.

Chloe heard the exchange, as did Rho, who was sitting in the back seat.

Rho said, “Maybe the lawyer can send a plane.”

I knew the flight from here to Virginia was about three hours long. It would take that long for a plane to make the trip in reverse, and my flight would still be leaving sooner. It wasn’t an option.

Then Chloe said, “I sometimes use a private jet when I fly. Maybe there’s one available.”

I looked at her. “Oh, and I suppose the regular booking folks would have information like that in their computers?”

She shook her head. “No, but I have the number of a guy who does.” She pulled out her phone, scrolled through some numbers and dialed him up.

“Gary? It’s Ms. Van Houten. Yes, it has been a while. Listen, do you have any private jets available for today? I need to fly to Virginia. No? Do you know anyone who does? Only those owned by families. I see. Okay, thank you, Gary.”

“Well, that’s a bust,” I said.

“You do have one Fonte whose family owns a leer jet,” Rho said.

I almost turned around in my seat to look at her, but I stopped myself. “Who?” I thought.

“Holly Bodine, one of your new acquisitions. Her family is extremely wealthy.”

I looked up Holly on my phone. “I just remembered,” I said for Chloe’s benefit. “One of my new Fonti is fairly wealthy. Maybe she can help.”

Chloe snorted but didn’t say anything.

Holly Bodine was one of the many women who had been kidnapped and used as a living battery for the Lockdown. Since the Lockdown syphoned away all expended magical energy in the entire Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, it needed a growing number of batteries to hold all of that energy. Holly had gone missing at the end of July and didn’t even realize how long she had been held there until after she returned home. It was some time after that she sought me out, the bond forged between us by the Lockdown was stronger than my other bonds. Contact between us was as magical and lust-filled as it was between me and my girls when my Initiation ended. The only downside was her family. They didn’t understand why she would suddenly be so infatuated with someone who was so obviously not of their caliber. Human emotion and desires being what they are, it made no difference to Holly.

She answered quickly. “Hello?”

“Holly, it’s Seth.”

“Oh!” she almost squealed, and then she added, “Hold on a second.” The sound was muffled. I heard other voices, but could not understand what was being said or to whom they belonged. Everything on the phone went quiet and a second later she said, “I thought you were going out of town for the weekend?”

“I am, but my plans have been messed up,” I said. “I need your help.” Then I explained the attack, Ricardo’s chase, and the need to get on a plane as soon as I arrived at the airport. “I hope I’m not asking too much.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “I only wish I could go with you. My aunts and uncles are all flying in for our holiday family get-together this weekend. I’m going to end up spending all of my time dodging my cousins and such, not to mention questions about my disappearance and you. I would love to get away.”

I looked out the windshields. “I’m at DFW now. Can you meet me?”

“Not if you’re in that much of a hurry,” she said. “I’ll call and have the plane prepped for you. I’ll call you back with the details when I know them.”

“Thank you,” I said. “And believe me, I will return the favor.”

I could hear her smile when she said, “I’ll hold you too that.”

By the time we reached the terminals, Holly had called back with the details. Chloe pulled up to the curb by the regular terminals. I turned to her. “Please tell me you and the others won’t do anything to jeopardize yourselves in an effort to stop Ricardo.”

Chloe smiled softly. “We won’t. We’ll be fine and by the time you get back, the only thing you’ll have to worry about is finding a new apartment.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thank you,” I said and then I kissed her.

I got out of the car and looked around. There were so many other vehicles that if Ricardo was following, I didn’t see him. Then I looked at my car again. I saw myself still sitting in the passenger seat as Chloe pulled away. I understood what she was doing: making sure Ricardo followed her rather than me.

I turned around and followed the instructions Holly had given me to get to her family’s plane. As I walked through the airport, I called Daphne. She was another of the women who had been used by the Lockdown, but unlike Holly, Daphne had become one of my Stirpi after I used some of the power awarded me by the Lockdown to make her a new Magus. She didn’t answer, so I left her a voicemail: “Daphne, I’ll meet you and the others in Virginia. I’m taking a sooner flight. I’ll explain later. Call me when you land.”

I then turned off my phone and nodded to Rho as we walked up to the leer jet waiting for us. With such short notice, only the Captain was available. He gave me a quick run-down on normal procedures and then we took off.

I thought about Ricardo’s reasons for his attack. He thought I was the devil, and that I would bring ruin to him and other Magi simply because my mark was amber. If there were others who felt as strongly about that, then I might find myself fighting off any number of other Magi willing to do anything to stop the rumors or legends from coming true. The easiest way to avoid it for the time being – at least until I learned enough about the legends – was to change the color of my mark.

“Rho, do you know how I might change the color of my mark, temporarily at least?” I asked her in thought.

She perked up. “I do, but why?”

I looked at her. “You were there. You saw what Ricardo did. He would have killed me if possible. Simply because of the color of my mark.”

She shook her head. “He believed something that you are not. There is a difference.”

“Regardless, I want to stave off attacks due to the same belief others may hold. If I could change the color of my mark, it would avoid the issue until I learn more about it.”

She shook her head again. “You’re not ready for that level of change.”

“What do you mean? The Council obviously know how to do it. For that matter, Lady Bridget of House Lacertae apparently knows how. Why can’t I?”

“There are a great many other things you must learn first,” she said. “The Magi you mentioned are all fully trained and experienced. I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but it is the truth.”

I had been asking Tanner a number of questions that ended up being answered in the same way. It was frustrating as hell, but I trusted him to help me, so I had to trust what Rho was saying now. “So, if I cannot change the color directly, is there any way to hide my mark or make others see a different color?”

She shook her head. “I do not know any way to do so.”

I nodded, leaned back in my seat, and tried to think of ways to avoid this sort of encounter in the future. I either had to hope most Magi weren’t privy to the legend or those who were weren’t the kill-now-worry-about-it-later sort. It was a scary thought though; the idea that I might be the one to bring ruin. I didn’t see how that was possible. All anyone ever told me was that I didn’t know enough to be a full Magus, that I was highly inexperienced. If that were the case, then shouldn’t I have a normal mark? Why was my color Amber? What did that mean?