Bloody Magic Sample
Chapter 1
“You didn’t kill anyone today, did you?” I asked Nico. She tended to do stuff like that. Well… We all did, but she seemed to enjoy it.
Me and my crew were on the world Blaze. We were at a nightclub called Charred. It was loud and boisterous, but we heard it offered mind-blowing fun you couldn’t find anywhere else.
I watched the grinding bodies on the floor, realizing just how sexual this place was. I clinked the ice in my glass, signaling I’d like another drink. It was filled immediately.
This club was said to be lewd, yet still classy. I took in the spectacular design of the place. It was bigger than three stadiums. We had lots of room to move around.
Chandeliers filled with strobe lights hung from the ceiling, bathing the place in a contrast of red, yellow, orange, and blue. I saw people on the dance floor wearing everything from evening gowns to fishnet stockings and thongs.
I nodded. Lewd, yet classy. It fit that definition perfectly. My eyes landed on a woman in one of the booths. She was naked, on top of a man, riding him. I choked on a piece of ice. This was a bit much, even for me.
The door fee had been three hundred dollars per person. Once inside, we discovered the cheapest drink was six hundred and fifty dollars. To be fair, they did have excellent service and the décor was amazing.
No matter how spectacular this place was, it didn’t stop people from having sex right there on the dance floor.
Many were engaged in the act at this very moment. My eyes took in the bowls of condoms and lube sitting on each table. Apparently, the club encouraged this type of behavior.
I turned away from the gyrating bodies. I didn’t judge other worlds. Each one was different. I’d learned that a long time ago. Besides, we’d all wanted to check this place out, so…
Nico threw her thick, black hair behind her head. She swiped at her handcom, paying me no attention at all.
Her brother Toma’s hair was the same as hers, long, thick, and black. They both stood about six feet and had they been from my homeworld, I’d say their features were East Asian.
Nico turned her nose up at me. She often did this, not just to me. She and Toma were from the world Sentra. On Sentra, if you didn’t wear million-dollar shoes, you weren’t worth a conversation.
I didn’t wear million-dollar shoes. I could afford them, but what a horrible waste of money. It didn’t matter. Even with my bad taste in shoes, Toma and Nico still hung out with me and the rest of our friends.
Nico and I were still talking when our friend Chaz walked up. He let out a heavy sigh. “Can we get some real alcohol? I want some Potomac Bomb.” He had a scowl on his face. It looked so unnatural there, but lately, it’d been the norm.
The bartender raised a brow but went ahead and placed a tall glass in front of Chaz anyway. Without even a thank you, Chaz finished the drink in one gulp.
His fingers brushed through his bright red hair. He moved his hands through it, back and forward like he was thinking about something. He usually kept his hair cut short. Looking at it now, it’d been a while since he’d last seen a barber.
Chaz smacked his lips in satisfaction and burped, setting his glass back on the bar. He ran a pale hand over his mouth to wipe away any excess liquor.
Some would look at Chaz and call him average. Yeah, he was of medium height and weight, but it only took one conversation to realize he was anything but average. Right now, he was acting boorish, so there was that.
He burped again, loudly. Face grim, he smacked the bar, indicating he wanted another drink.
He was being rather rude, but I knew he was going through a lot. His love life was in shambles at the moment. Instead of saying something, I looked out toward the dance floor.
The speakers pumped techno music, a loud and exciting beat, that seemed to make the people go wild.
I rocked backward and forward, unable to stop myself. Hey, I loved a good beat. Besides, I was on vacation. We all were.
Vacation. That didn’t happen often. Even though I was the sole owner, founder, and CEO of my own business.
I looked back at the crowd. Naked bodies danced freely across the floor. Some even flipped and turned in midair.
I decided to enjoy the view, thinking how good it was to shuck responsibility. If just for a little while, anyway. See, a normal day of work for me was charging twenty-five million dollars to take someone from one world to another.
Usually, that person had fucked up pretty badly. They either had the mob after them, the police, or someone who really wished them harm. I also took people escaping from abuse, but I never charged in cases like that.
The universal term for a world with no powers like my homeworld was Routine. It was my mother’s homeworld, not my father's. Most didn’t like calling it Earth, because we weren’t hopping to different planets, only alternate universes.
The music changed, and I tapped the bar, asking for another drink. I was just now feeling the effects from the last one and wanted to keep the buzz going.
Nico’s head stayed bent, looking at her handcom. She seemed so calm and composed, like head-splitting music blasting through her eardrums didn’t bother her in the least. I guess people having sex right in front of her were no trouble either.
“Not dancing?” I asked, wondering if she even knew where we were. She looked so preoccupied.
She glanced toward the floor then back at me, brows furrowed. “Don’t you have a client somewhere to check on?”
Well, she knew we were on vacation. My clients, the people who paid me big dough to hop them from universe to universe, meant a lot to me. I checked on them regularly, just to make sure they were getting along in their new environment. Not this week, though. Darn, it was good to finally be on vacation.
My last vacation had been over three years ago. I had a list of activities lined up. I planned on traveling to new universes, trying out their cuisine and taking in the sights.
The bartender set my drink down in front of me and I answered Nico’s question. “No, I don’t have a client to check on. We’re on vacation, remember?”
She didn’t answer. Which wasn’t unusual for her. Not when it came to me anyway. But that was perfectly fine. Nico and I would probably never be best friends, but a quiet respect existed between us and that’s what mattered the most. To me anyway.
Beside me, Chaz burped, a frown creasing his brows. Nico’s expression wasn’t that different. Where the fuck were their brothers? Obviously, something was wrong. Neither wanted to tell me, but maybe they’d talked to their respective siblings.
Heck, Nico was actually in some type of relationship with Chaz’s brother Kirk, so maybe he could talk to her.
It was easy to find Kirk. He was pale like his brother, and he usually stood taller than all those around him. Also, his bald head often gleamed. So that was a bit of a giveaway.
I found him at a pool table in the corner. The game looked interesting. His brows were scrunched together in concentration, body rigid. I figured it was best not to disturb him. Kirk could be a bit of a hothead. Zero to a hundred in three seconds, that guy.
Toma, Nico’s brother, on the other hand, was on the dance floor grinding with a woman who looked to be about twenty-eight, twenty-nine.
She stood about five-six, was small of frame, had brown skin, and short black hair hanging over her face. In other words, she looked just like me.
It was best not to think too much on that. Instead, I looked for the last member of our group. Clink. Now Clink was as handsome as they came. His six-foot muscular frame made him stand out in any crowd.
Add in that dark ebony skin with those red and orange dreadlocks hanging down his back and it was enough to make almost anyone do a double take. Not that he ever noticed.
Right now, his light was dim. It was easy to see he had a lot on his mind. In a club full of alcohol and grinding bodies, Clink sat alone in a corner looking sad, grim. He had his favorite book beside him, that usually cheered him up better than anything else could, but he wasn’t even reading that tonight.
I slowly placed my drink back on the counter. I hated seeing him like this. Any of them, really.
I looked back toward Chaz. His eyes were on Clink. I didn’t know what’d happened between these two, but I figured it was something big. They both seemed at their lowest. Were they even still a couple? They hadn’t acted like it lately.
I snatched up my drink and decided to make an effort. Perhaps all Clink needed was someone to talk to.
I slid into a chair in front of Clink, hoping my approach would work. “Nothing a cold beer can’t fix,” I said with a smile on my lips and a beer in my hand.
He looked up when I spoke. His mouth turned upwards in a grin, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
I let out a sigh, trying to find my words. I knew what bothered him. Well, I knew one of the things that bothered him. I just didn’t know how to make it better.
For me, the direct approach usually worked best. “Glone’s in good hands. Tieden and Kalem won’t hurt him. You know that, right?”
Clink ran a hand down his face. “Tieden and Kalem are crazy. You know that, right?”
Well, the two were a bit much to take, but still… “We can go see Glone tomorrow if you want. They say he’s up walking around, going outside.”
Glone was Clink’s ex-boyfriend and six months ago he’d gotten hurt in battle. Our friends, if you could call them that, Tieden and Kalem, had taken him to their world so they could better heal him.
I took a good look around the club. From where we sat it was easy to see the bar. I wasn’t surprised when I saw Chaz down another drink. I was sure this whole thing with Clink and Glone was the reason why. I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want my boyfriend mooning over his ex either.
Clink shook his head. “Nah. Glone don’t wanna see me.” From the raw pain in his voice, I got the feeling a lot of dynamics were about to shift. Clink was still very much in love with Glone.
My stomach churned when I thought of what that’d do to Chaz. Chaz, whose fingers were wrapped around yet another drink.
“You know what.” I slammed my hand down hard on the table. “I’ve come to a decision. No more sitting around sulking! We’re going to Pilo!”
The world Pilo put on a light show three nights a week. You could actually program the lights into the shape of yourself and your friends. Once you had the design you wanted, you sent them through the air where they did all sorts of cool and crazy stuff.
I levitated six feet off the ground. It was easier for me to see from higher up. Plus, it was a good way to call attention to myself. Whenever a member of my crew looked up, I waved them over. They all came, but none looked happy about it.
I landed back on the ground, some of my excitement now gone. Wow, what a fun vacation… Well, when I thought about it, Toma and Nico probably wished they were at work.
The two of them had just gotten their businesses back after a few mishaps. I’d since learned they were extreme workaholics.
Clink, Chaz, and Kirk didn’t have jobs. They pretty much stole everything they wanted. So, it was always vacation time for them.
When I thought about it that way… Was I the only one having fun here? Did the others have somewhere else they’d rather be?
They’d agreed to come and had seemed eager to hang out, so maybe I was overthinking things.
Chaz looked longingly toward the bar. “Ah, what is it, Love? I got myself ten more drinks lined up.”
“We’re going to Pilo!” I threw my hands in the air. Hey, I was trying here. “We’ll watch the light show and maybe even send up a few designs.”
I got a couple mumbles and groans, but no one refused.
Great! To Pilo it was. Hey, I was determined to have a good time. I raised my hand, and a swirling blue portal opened to Pilo. We all stepped through.
A blast of fire went by my head the second I stepped out the portal. I ducked, heart in my throat. I raised my head back up in time to see a large fist headed straight for my face.