Page 28 of Dark Reckoning
Together, we enchanted the blood like before, then Adrian reached into the duffle bag and pulled out the binding Dobinger Ash we needed to sprinkle on top of the sigil. There wasn't much of it left.
“We only have enough to do this house and Damon's,” I said.
“That's why I brought the ingredients to do the other barrier spell.” Adrian wiggled his brows and I laughed.
“That's my baby, thinking ahead.”
Adrian sprinkled the ash on one half of the sigil, chanting a spell as he did. He then handed it over to me to continue. I chanted my part of the spell and once the last of the ash was on the image, there was a burst of white flames that burned the sigil's design into the floor. The smell of burnt sugar and charcoal filled the room and slowly, the design began to fade away. However, I could still sense its magical presence. Just like it was back at my tower.
“You feel it still, right?” I asked Adrian to see if he also felt it.
He nodded. “Yeah, it tingles.”
“Okay, it's done. I need to call Kakashi to ask him about this shit Salino wants to do,” I said, pulling out my cell.
“Put it on speaker,” Adrian said.
“Do you even need that? Your hearing was good enough earlier when you were eavesdropping on my call,” I teased with a playful smile, because I wanted to make sure he knew I wasn't mad.
Adrian smirked. “I'll admit, my senses seem to have increased since being linked to Salino. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. I'm beginning to understand why you accepted your situation better than I thought you would after being turned into a vampire. There's a lot of perks,” he admitted.
“A lot,” I agreed.
“Anyway, I want you to put it on speaker, so Kakashi and I can communicate too in case I need to ask him anything,” Adrian said.
I nodded. “Ahhh, I see. Okay.” I began dialing his number and he answered faster than I thought he would. “Hey, I need to ask you a question.”
“What is it?” he asked. Even over the phone, his voice was full of authority.
“Listen, we're in a bit of a situation over here since we severed the link between the Dark God and the old vampire emperor. Salino is being threatened by the other emperors and as you know, if he dies, Adrian and I will die. Salino wants to kill the other emperors and have all of their vampires linked to him. If we do that—I mean, if we can do that, because I'm not even sure if that's possible—what's the consequence?”
He sighed, and it was one of those sighs that was heavy in agitation. “As far as plans go, I can see the logic behind it.”
“So, what's the backlash?” I asked.
“The price is unknown, as you know nothing like what you're asking has ever been done. I don't know what consequence, if any, will take place. Contrary to popular belief... a somewhat falsehood that the Echelon Imperial put out there eons ago... not all magic has a price.”
“Why put out the lie that it does, then?” Adrian asked.
“To deter foolish mages or humans from making mistakes that do have high prices. It's helped from time to time,” Kakashi said. “Not in your case, obviously.”
I rolled my eyes at the sly jab. “So, we can sever their lines and connect Salino?”
“Do you know how?” he asked.
“Well, we really haven't had a chance to see if there are any spells in our grimoire that could help us,” Adrian said.
“I will help, because I'd rather your energy be put to actually finding a spell to track El-Kazir and kill or expel him. I'll come to you, Aldéric and I have the spell that will do what you ask, but requires the power of three dark mages,” Kakashi said.
“Holy shit,” Adrian said. “Just how dark is that spell?”
“Not your concern since you can't help with it. For now, Adrian, do what you can,” Kakashi said.
“Watch how you talk to my man,” I snapped. “Never forget that I'm very aggressive in my protection of what's mine,” I warned, because I wouldn't tolerate anyone disrespecting me or Adrian or my pride. I would die on that fucking hill, too.
Again, Kakashi sighed. “I'll try to remember that instinct in you. And I'd ask that you do the same. Never forget that I am a dark mage and will only tolerate so much attitude from anyone,” he warned in kind.
“Don't start nothing, won't be nothing,” I added.
