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I looked up, racking my brain for something. “Honestly? Most of what I’ve been told isn’t so positive.”
He chuckled. “No, I guess it wouldn’t be. Let’s skip the vampire propaganda and go straight to the basics of magic, okay?”
“Fine with me.”
“The first thing they teach all mage youth is that magic must always be used with caution. Because it messes with the balance of nature, you have to be weigh potential repercussions before casting any spell.”
“What kind of repercussions are we talking about?”
He leaned his elbows on the table. “Depends on the magnitude of the spell. Are you familiar with the butterfly effect?”
I nodded. “Something about a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world.”
“Very good,” he said. “Magic basically works on that principle. The larger the spell, the more serious the consequences. I’ve seen big spells cause earthquakes, tornados, even tsunamis.”
“What about the smaller ones?”
“Those are harder to track. Might be something as big as a rain shower or as small as an acorn falling from a tree. Could happen five yards away or fifty miles. Plus, you never know when it will happen—in five minutes or fifty years.”
“That sucks,” I said. “But if you don’t know what will happen, why worry at all?”
“The point isn’t knowing what will happen, it’s being aware that everything we do affects the whole. All of us—mages, vampires, humans, and the rest—affect the balance of life.”
“If you start singing ‘Kum Ba Yah’ I’m out of here.”
That got me a frown. “Sabina, this is serious. You can’t just go around hexing people or casting spells willy-nilly.”
“I was kidding, jeez.”
He cleared his throat and pulled a book out of his backpack. “This is a textbook used in mage schools. It’s pretty elementary, but it gives a good overview of the basics.” He pushed the book across the table. I picked it up and flipped through it. He wasn’t kidding. It read like the Dick and Jane version of The Book of Shadows. “There’ll be a test tomorrow.”
I brought my head up, ready to tell him where he could stick his test. But stopped myself when I saw his smirk.
“Gotcha.”
“Nice one,” I said. “Can we get to the good stuff already?”
“Not yet. You need to learn about the basics before we move into introductory spell casting. That book will help.”
Just then, my cell phone rang. Grimacing, I picked it up to check the number. Lavinia. Cursing under my breath, I hit the end button and then powered the phone off. If things went as planned, I’d be able to call her back later with news of my success.
“You could have taken that,” Adam said, nodding toward the phone.
“I didn’t recognize the number.” He didn’t look convinced but let it drop. “Okay,” I said. “What else, Teach?”
“That’s it for tonight.”
My mouth dropped open. I’d gotten myself all worked up and all he did was give me some stupid book? “That’s it?”
“I don’t want to rush this. You’ve got a lot to learn and tossing you into intermediate casting might overwhelm you.”
“Wait a second,” I said. “You’re making it sound like I’m in this for the long haul.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Hell no. We agreed on one lesson. I thought you’d teach me a few spells and that’d be it.”
He sighed and tilted his head to look at me. “Don’t you get it? I’m here to help you claim your birthright.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sabina, you’ve lived your life so far as if you were a pureblooded vampire. But you’re not. Half of your blood is mage. And until you accept that you’ll never be whole.”
I sat back in my chair and stared at him, dumbfounded by his audacity. “I think we’re done here.” The scrape of the chair legs against concrete made me cringe as I stood.
“Sabina,” Adam said. I ignored him and continued to the apartment. Behind me I heard him curse followed by his chair being pushed away from the table. “Wait!”
“See you at the temple!” I yelled. The door slammed behind me.
Two hours later, I was ready to stab myself in the eyeball with the pen I was tapping on the notepad in front of me.
“If we go in through the west entrance, we can disable the cameras,” Frank said.
“But why would we do that when I can simply disable them with a spell?” Adam argued.
Vinca and I looked at each other as the two men continued to debate the various methods of entry. The meeting had already gone on too long, most of it consisting of Adam and Frank arguing over every last detail of the plan.
“Frank, how many vamps can we count on to help us?” I interrupted.
Frank’s glare shifted from Adam to me. “I’ve got five of Clovis’ personal guard.”
“Shit,” I said. “We need a lot more than that. They’ve got security all over that place.”
“I can probably get some faeries involved,” Vinca offered.
Frank snorted. “What are they going to do, blow pollen on them?”
Vinca stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t underestimate fae folk, vampire. We’ve been known to kick some bloodsucker ass. Would you like a demonstration?”
Frank started to lean forward, his eyes hot. I put a hand on his arm. “Stop it,” I ordered. “Vinca, I appreciate your offer, but I need you to focus on gathering the weapons and supplies right now.” Vinca leaned back in her chair with a frown.
“I can put a call out to some of the covens in the area,” Adam said.
I shook my head. “Absolutely not. We can’t chance the Hekate Council stepping in.”
“But—”
I held up a hand, cutting him off. “No. We’ll have to make do,” I said. “Now, let’s start by going over what we know about the facility.”
An hour, and a lot of shouting, later, we’d come up with a rudimentary plan. It wasn’t fleshed out, but it was a start. Frank stood and stretched.
“I need to go brief my men.” He stalked out without another word.
Adam watched him go. “That guy’s got an attitude problem.”
“No doubt,” Vinca said.
