“The other Council members were equally frightened when you sent vampires after them.”

“Yes. They’re all pathetic. They will fall easily.” He glared at Kai, hatred pouring over his eyes. “That one we’re saving for last. The great dragon.” He sneered. “He will fall. They will all fall. And when they do, the tight control they’ve woven around the supernatural factions will break. Mages, vampires, fairies, even the otherworldly…they will begin to fight one another. And humans will be caught in the middle.”

“Humans will die.”

“By the millions,” he said with relish. “And then the survivors will turn to us, begging us to fix the problem they cannot. And we will.” Magic, sick and twisted, raged in his eyes. “We will.”

“He’s insane,” Kai said. “Clearly. Let’s get him back to Duncan. After what this traitor has put him through, I’m sure he’d be more than delighted at the prospect of scraping his mind for secrets.”

The mage closed his eyes and began to mutter.

“What’s he saying?” Kai asked.

“Um…magic and blood, something-something…” She leaned in closer. “…flame to fire, earth to stone—”

Kai jerked on her hand, yanking her away from the muttering mage. And not a second too soon. Blood burst out of Mr. Crazy’s chest in a hundred tiny sprinklers, hissing against the lightning web holding him.

“Death to abominations,” he gurgled out. His chest heaved, then he went completely limp.

Sera gaped down at the fresh corpse, trying hard not to dwell on his final words. Death to abominations. She knew he meant supernaturals in general, not her—and that he was insane anyway. But that didn’t change the fact that according to the laws of the Magic Council, she was just that. An abomination.

“That wasn’t a recipe for cookies, I take it,” she said.

“No.” Kai came up behind her and folded his arms around her. “That was the Dying Blood spell. A kamikaze spell. It uses the caster’s magic to turn his own blood poisonous. If a single drop had gotten onto your skin…” He was holding her so tightly that she could scarcely breathe.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, reaching up to squeeze his arms.

“I’m not.” His magic quaked. “He killed himself and tried to take you with him, Sera.”

“Yeah, that’s because he’s nuts.”

His deep chuckle buzzed against her neck. Sera could have stayed there forever, snuggling up to the dragon, but unfortunately…well, life happened. She took Kai’s hand, kissing it once before putting her big girl pants on again.

“So, then,” she said, looking down at the corpse. “Do you want to carry the body or shall I?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Magic Burgers

THERE WEREN’T MANY sure-fire ways to get New Yorkers to stop and stare, but carrying a dead and bleeding mage to the street curb was one of them. And they didn’t just stare; they gawked. There was a good amount of finger-pointing too.

“There isn’t some regulation against carrying corpses in public, is there?” Sera whispered to Kai as she watched one of the nearby pedestrians tap out something on his phone that looked suspiciously like ‘911’.

“Shouldn’t you know something like that? I figured that was your area of expertise as a monster hunter.”

“Are you teasing me?” she asked as a black van stopped in front of them. Their ride had arrived.

Kai opened the trunk and pushed the dead mage inside. “Of course not. That would be unprofessional.”

She smirked at him as they took their seats. “So is the blood on your shirt.”

“His chest is full of holes. It’s basically impossible to transport someone in that state without spilling at least a little blood.”

They’d waited the necessary fifteen minutes for his poisonous blood to go inert again before trying to move him. Deadly or not, the mage’s blood was still messy.

“Or without spilling a lot of blood.” Sera hitched her thumb back toward the trunk. “He’s bleeding out all over.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sending the cleaning bill to the mages we rescued from the vampires,” Kai said.

“Wow, you’re sure storing up a lot of favors.”

“Yes.”

“I fought the monsters and helped take down the bad guy too. You get a gazillion favors. What do I get?”

“I’m buying you lunch.”

“You were going to do that already.”

“Then I’ll just have to think of something.” The look in his eyes promised massages—well, massages and a whole lot of other things that she wasn’t going to think about with Kai’s people in the front seat.

A few minutes later, the van slid to a stop. Kai hopped out, picked up the body from the trunk, and headed toward the entrance to Madison Square Garden. Sera followed him. Everyone gave them a wide berth.

“It’s not over, you know,” she said as they walked inside. “The Convictionites still have the Blood Orb.”

“Isn’t your sister working on the Convictionite problem?”

“Apparently.”

“Then I think the problem is in good hands.”

“But you don’t even know Alex. How can you say that?”

“I know you,” he said. “And Riley. Tenacity runs in your family.”