Magic Resistant

By Veronica Del Rosa

First in the Enforcers and Coterie series, Magic Resistant delves deeper into a world where magic co-exists peacefully with the ordinary, for the most part . . .

Her existence is illegal.

Julia Hill joined the Mage Enforcers to save her own life. But if her colleagues find out she’s magic resistant, they’ll execute her without hesitation. It hasn’t been a major problem—it’s not like she’s going to spill her secret—until she meets Jackson. Or, more accurately, until he kidnaps her.

A demon summoning ends in murder.

Jackson Thorne is on the run, framed for summoning and losing control of a demon. Evading the Enforcers, his clues are sparse and allies are hard to find. Can he trust the woman he accidentally abducted or will she turn on him the moment she has the chance?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Veronica Del Rosa
• Release date: Aug 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310344343

Veronica Del Rosa

An avid reader, I enjoy paranormal romance, urban fantasy and fantasy books. It wasn't a far stretch for me to write a paranormal fantasy. I'm also a computer/sci-fi geek and I've been in computer field for well over 15 years.

Book preview

Chapter One

Julia’s eyes snapped open. Groaning, she rolled over and thumped the pillow, wishing instead it was the heartless bastard pounding at her front door. Bleary eyed, she glared at the alarm clock and groaned again as her mind comprehended the time—3:12 AM. What kind of evil, twisted S.O.B banged on the door at this hour ?

The heavy knocking continued, forcing her to leave the comfort of her warm bed. She grabbed her thick red robe while she muttered unflattering parental references about the person sadistic enough to disturb her sleep.

Who is it? she snapped, hoping it was just a drunk at the wrong house. Standing off to the side, she waited for a response. Tired as she was, she still had the presence of mind to stay out of the line of fire.

A shotgun blast or a high-powered assault rifle would make short work of her and her wooden door. The outer walls, at least, were concrete and harder to shoot through. She’d learned early on that her line of work required paranoia. The naïve and trusting ones either found themselves with a new job or resting in a coffin.

It’s Markus. Let me in, Julia’s mentor growled through the heavy wood. I have a lead on Jackson. Hurry up.

Julia rolled her eyes. Markus’ sources, while unerringly well informed, had horrible timing.

She glanced through the peephole and verified he was alone. As usual, his ink-black hair brushed his shoulders. On another man, it would’ve looked effeminate, but with his striking black eyes, square jaw dusted with stubble, and slightly crooked, once-broken nose, he was every inch a virile man. He knew the drill and held his hands in the air to show that he was unarmed. Or, at least, that he held no weapons. Neither one of them was ever truly defenceless.

He wore his work uniform: black shirt and black cargo pants coupled with his usual black overcoat. Most mages wore one specially designed with hidden pockets.

Julia and Markus were both Enforcers for the magical government, the Coterie. They policed the magical community, making sure civilian mages and the other magical races followed the law. Those that didn’t found themselves hunted by the Enforcers.

Each major power in the Coterie had their own team of Enforcers except for the demons and Fae. They had no say in policing Earth, since this wasn’t their plane of existence.

Julia unlocked the door, although she didn’t bother dropping the wards surrounding her house. Markus was already keyed in, a regular visitor to her home. That and he had a hand in weaving several of them. She glanced outside, vaguely surprised no one else accompanied him. Jackson was a high profile capture. Wouldn’t he have other backup?

Where is he? Julia asked, closing the door behind him, her mind now wide awake and churning with questions. She shot him her best unimpressed scowl. Sadly, it didn’t even give him a second’s pause. She sighed in disappointment. One of these days, in a century or two, he might think she was a force to be reckoned with.

Today, however, was not that day.

She had recently graduated to full status. Over the last few decades, she’d paid her dues as a junior Mage Enforcer. To properly mould the next generation of Mage Enforcers, the Coterie began training applicants at the young age of six, away from their parents. Her schooling had consisted of the same topics as the humans, along with the different studies of magic: illusions, conjuring, wards, offensive spells, magic history, and, her least favourite subject, necromancy.

Once she turned eighteen, she’d been paired with a mentor, Markus, to advance her education until it was time to take her final exam.

Each mage matured differently when it came to accessing their magic. Some would find that internal switch at a young age, while others waited decades before they could truly cast magic. During that time, they studied and learned from their mentor. Julia had lucked out. Her switch had flipped before her teenage years.

Too bad her luck hadn’t held in other areas.

Enough questions, Markus demanded, sweeping the room for any threats. He stood with his back to the wall near the door, eyeing the windows. Julia knew without checking that he would be coated in magical defensive spells. Her partner’s habits were deeply ingrained.

Most Mage Enforcer trainees remained with their partner after reaching full status. Julia enjoyed working with Markus, the cranky bastard, since few mages had his knowledge and power.

Together, Julia and Markus had a high capture rate; most of it due to Markus. She was still trying to prove she did more than just tag along.

Fine, give me a sec. I need to get dressed. Some of us sleep at this hour, Julia groused as she strode back to her room, loosening the tie on her robe.

Civilian clothes. No Enforcer uniform, he barked at her, expecting obedience.

She hastily tossed on loose-fitting jeans and a pale purple t-shirt. Her belt had several pouches to hold various spell components, a loop for her blasting rod, and two more loops for her knife sheaths—one on her left for a dagger and the other on her right for a hunting knife. She liked having the option to slice or stab, depending on her mood. She added a shoulder holster with her Beretta 9mm to the arsenal. A lightweight black jacket completed the ensemble.

---

Julia stared out the passenger window at the nearly deserted streets of downtown Toronto while Markus drove. He was too much of a control freak to allow Julia to drive his precious Bentley. Once, only once, when learning to drive, she’d scratched his 1988 Corvette. Honestly, who allowed a sixteen-year-old to drive a brand new car off the lot? Obviously his own fault, but he had yet to trust her with another one of his babies .

At close to 4:30 AM, the city’s denizens were starting to wake up, many of them trying to make it to work before rush hour clogged the streets. Most days, she avoided navigating the downtown area with a car, preferring instead to use transit. If she wasn’t in a hurry, she loved taking the streetcar. Unlike other mages, she didn’t rely on teleportation to get around. The likelihood of getting stuck in a wall was too high for her to chance.

Julia patted her chestnut-brown hair, tucking away any flyaway strands into her high ponytail. While her brown eyes constantly scrutinized their surroundings, she took care not to catch her own gaze in the mirror. She had her moments of vanity, liking the way the darker shadows highlighted her cheekbones and gave her eyes a smoky mystery. However, she didn’t need to see tired, bleary eyes staring back at her from a face free of makeup. She’d been lucky to drag a toothbrush over her teeth before Markus had yelled at her to hurry up.

Pretending to toy idly with her earrings, she counted them off, verifying each one was in place. Six in her left and six in her right; five through the lobes and one in each tragus. It was one of the few things that made people glance twice at her. Generically pretty meant she blended into the background; handy in her line of work, but kind of depressing. Maybe one day she’d dye her hair bright blue.

Markus slowed the car and pulled into a parking lot near a forty-story office building. Most of the spots were clear, the early morning hours working in their favour. In less than three hours, parking would be all but impossible.

Julia took her jacket off and tossed it into the back seat. She preferred to keep her weapons under wraps near home.

Here, however, she wanted the hardware showing. Intimidation wasn’t her strong suit. Her slender figure, which barely topped five feet, didn’t lend a lot of credence to her authority.

Her neck craned upwards as she took in the massive office building. Many of the windows glowed yellow in the retreating darkness, their lights left on during the night. Julia tsked at the waste of electricity. Surely there weren’t entire floors being occupied overnight.

Polished glass squares lined with metal covered the building. A handful of dark windows reflected the rosy glow of the slowly rising sun. While the structure towered over several of the skyscrapers in the area, it was by no means the tallest in Toronto. A paltry forty stories didn’t even put it in the big league in the financial district.

A few blocks away, the Trump Tower sat with its sixty-three floors, and The First Canadian Place boasted seventy-two. And then there was the Coterie Headquarters. Also in the financial district, it housed all the unmated Enforcers, their training facilities, and the Coterie themselves when in Toronto. It sported a whopping seventy-five floors.

This is the place, Markus said as he led the way to the front entrance of the building. Source told me he’s on the fifteenth floor. It’s empty due to construction and renovations. Better take the stairs. Don’t want to alert him.

Security posed no issue, since he clouded the minds of the guards and glitched the cameras. He pushed a little extra energy through the circuits, creating an overload and shutting down the recording devices without causing any lasting damage. The spell was a specialty of Markus’. Part of his infamous reputation came from his ability to manipulate technology and create illusions. The other part . . . well, Julia had never seen it directed towards her and never wanted to.

Humans knew about the supernatural community, having co-existed relatively peacefully for the past 200 years. Before that, it’d been bloodshed. Wars had erupted almost constantly between the races as they tried to annihilate each other. But treaties written centuries ago had forced a ceasefire.

The younger generations no longer remembered the horrors of those times, the brutality a distant dream, half-remembered and indistinct. Many of the older ones held grudges, nurturing them like hot house orchids. They flaunted their hatred and intolerance with glee.

The Coterie had deemed it best to keep the general public unaware of the harsher, seamier underside of the human-supernatural relations. Enforcer training included keeping quiet about their jobs and shielding the community at large. Knowledge was, they said, an insidious thing, creeping into the minds of the unsuspecting, blurring the boundaries between right and wrong. Especially with the taint of black magic and demon summonings.

That, and no one wanted to become the subject of the next reality TV show. Julia could just imagine such horrible offerings. How about Enforcers, Whips, and Magic for a fetish sex show? Maybe CSI: Enforcers for a police procedural. Or how about Millionaire Mage Matchmatcher or The Real Housewives of the Toronto Pack.

She mentally chuckled at her own silliness then chided herself for not paying attention. She wanted the respect of her peers. Woolgathering wouldn’t help. Capturing Jackson would.

"Tracer spell active? Markus asked Julia. Don’t want to waste my time if he’s not here anymore."

Yeah, I have it going. I feel him. I’m surprised he hasn’t managed to shield himself. You know, it might be a trap. Worried at how effortless it’d been to pinpoint him once they were in the building, she double-checked the thread of magic linking her and Jackson. No hint of redirection or weakness. She’d found him with ease.

Drilled constantly in spell evasion and magical tradecraft, Enforcers knew how to throw off a location spell or shield against them. Only a newbie would make such a mistake, and Jackson certainly wasn’t a newbie. Being tracked meant capture or death.

"You told me you’ve modified your tracer spell. Can’t unravel what he doesn’t know. Come on. Let’s go before humans start filling up this place." Without waiting for a response, Markus strode towards the stairs and pushed open the door.

Refusing to embarrass herself by whining, Julia stifled any complaints, and started up the stairs. Although it was an easier cardio routine than usual, fifteen flights would still burn on the way up. Thankfully, Enforcers had a strict policy on daily workouts for both physical stamina and weapons training.

She would need it today.

This was the first mission Markus had allowed Julia to join that wasn’t swarming with backup. Before, she’d been just one extra person, lost in a sea of mature, seasoned Enforcers. Here, she was the backup. It was time to show her superiors she could handle tough situations, that she wasn’t the immature child so many thought she was. Her Enforcer colleagues felt her magical talents were lacking, that she was average in so many ways.

Any one of them would’ve jumped at the chance to partner with Markus and bring in Jackson, the sole person who managed to elude the Enforcers for any serious length of time.

For the past year, he had been a fugitive for summoning a demon and subsequently losing control of it. Not a single Enforcer had come close to capturing him, not even her infamous partner. Julia had read a brief on Jackson, citing his unknown birth parents, summarizing his talents in summoning, and quoting accolades from his professors at the Mage Enforcer academy.

Since his graduation out of the junior ranks, he had spent the past five years as a Mage Demon Enforcer, making a name for himself in capturing rogue demons. That is, until the demon he summoned murdered several humans.

Stairs blurred as they swiftly jogged upwards. Within minutes they reached their destination, 15 written in bold numbers on the drab grey door. Julia took a deep breath to help steady the adrenaline rushing through her body, then hugged the wall on the left side of the door, waiting for Markus to give the all-clear. Using hand signals, she indicated Jackson’s location to the right.

Markus signaled for Julia to enter ahead of him. Brown doors lined either side of the hallway in neat rows, and plain beige carpet on the floor blended drably with the light cream colour on the walls. Shoulder pressed tight against the left wall, she closed her eyes for a moment to get a better fix on the fugitive’s location. Bringing up four fingers, she motioned to the right. Markus tapped her arm twice in acknowledgement before softly murmuring. She couldn’t catch the words.

Whipping her head around, her brows creased in puzzlement. His black eyes glowed eerily as he pulled energy into himself, readying a spell. Why was he casting? With a quick finger flick, he released the magic at Julia.

What an odd time for defensive spells, she thought, blinking in surprise. They’d already buffed up outside the building.

Her mind went blank when darkness reached up to engulf her, yanking her into sleep.

---

Yelling and swirling smoke greeted Julia when she forced her eyes open. The acrid smell tickled her nose, and she fought off the urge to sneeze. Taking inventory of the after-effects from the sleep spell, she cursed Markus. What in the nine hells was he thinking? Was he afraid she’d be a liability? Why bring her along at all if that’s what he thought ?

She smacked her head lightly—and whimpered at the resulting starburst of pain—when she realized her modified tracer spell was the only one capable of tracking Jackson. They’d been close to him once before thanks to her spell and no one except Markus knew about it. He must have wanted to use the spell but still keep her safe from Jackson.

Damn his overprotective hide.

Her partner, however, wasn’t aware that she had a resistance to all magic cast upon her. Only one other person in existence knew this tidbit, and he was excellent at keeping dangerous things hidden. Defensive spells had a shortened life span against her. Offensive spells hurt a lot less. And, even better, it was harder to trap her using magic. All of which meant the magic-induced naptime appeared to have lasted for thirty minutes or so instead of the intended hour.

Her head fuzzy, she tried to stand but promptly fell back down. She cursed the pounding in her skull and squeezed her eyes shut. When she peeled her lids apart again, she saw a figure rushing toward her. She couldn’t make out who it was. Smoke continued to pour out of an open door, fourth one on the right, and all the lights were off in the hallway. Glass from the blown fluorescent bulbs crunched underfoot as he rushed pass.

Markus? What’s going on? Is the building on fire? Her brain kept misfiring and her legs wouldn’t obey. She felt mired in mud, sludge coating her thoughts and movements.

With a startled curse muffled by the fire alarm, the figure whirled around. He’d almost made it to the stairwell exit but quickly backtracked to her. Grabbing hold of her arm, he helped her up and practically dragged her to the stairwell.

"Hurry up. We have to get out of here. That idiot is releasing the Devouring Plague. It’ll eat everything organic on this floor." Smoke, and possibly yelling, made his voice hoarse and unrecognizable.

Her mind caught up with his words, and fear shivered up her spine. The Devouring Plague was the deadliest of spells and destroyed everything in its path while active. Usually it lasted less than a minute, but she’d heard tales of it consuming an entire army of thousands in such a short amount of time. The more it ate, the faster it spread. Of course, the tales could have exaggerated the death toll, since the victor was the only one left to tell the tale. But she didn’t want to find out firsthand.

---

Mumbling to himself , Jackson swiftly fashioned the complex gestures to summon enough energy to open a doorway into Fay. The fabric between the two worlds stretched thin before ripping apart, revealing a dark forest through the portal. A strange light filtered through the leafy branches, and a small, overgrown trail was barely visible through the underbrush. Doorways between the two worlds were scattered throughout Earth and could be opened—if one knew how .

Jackson had made a point of learning how and, through practice, was quite efficient at it. As a bolthole, they had proven invaluable, so long as he avoided the locals.

Impatiently, he prodded the woman over the threshold. She stumbled and fell to her knees on the grass. Shrugging off a fleeting sense of shame, he followed after her. Whirling around, he sealed the portal and sighed deeply, frustrated at the change of plans. Jackson shook his head to clear it, muttering about unneeded complications.

With a ten-minute hike ahead of them through the Light Fae forest, they needed to leave immediately before any creatures noticed the breach. Most portals between the two worlds had an alarm system, and guardians would arrive soon. Fighting Fae creatures was never advisable, even with iron weapons, which he didn’t have. They hit hard and fast and were nearly impossible to kill, especially in their own world.

Stepping behind the woman, he situated his hands under her armpits and lifted her up. Her head came to just below his nose, as his six-foot frame towered over hers. She couldn’t be more than an inch or two over five feet. Her high ponytail tickled his face and he inhaled the scent of her shampoo involuntarily.

Mmm, strawberries. His growling stomach reminded him it was nearing breakfast time.

Her rigid back to him, she refused to look his way. With a sweeping glance he took in her toned biceps and the readiness of her stance. His eyes lingered on her ass and hips. If only she’d worn tighter jeans . . .

He dragged his mind back to the issue at hand. Who was she? No one else should’ve been on that floor, other than perhaps security. She certainly didn’t dress like security, nor was she in an Enforcer uniform. She did, however, have an empty shoulder holster and a blasting rod dangling from her belt.

Was she with Markus? He could’ve sworn his presence there had gone undetected, and yet Markus had found him. Again.

He pushed the question to the back of his mind to mull over once they were in less hostile environs. Now, it was time to move.

The sun glinted off the upper foliage, blinding him after the darkness of the office building. He squinted against the radiant light, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Brilliant yellow, green, and blue leaves framed the sky. The beautiful, deadly canopy could hide any number of ravenous creatures.

The honey-sweet air enticed the unsuspecting to stop and relax. A hint of rot hid amongst the cloying scent, a warning to those foolish enough to linger.

Pushing her roughly on the shoulders, Jackson led them further into the thick brush.

Branches grasped at their hair and clothes, greedy for exposed skin. Using his jacket for protection, he reached over her head and lifted branches aside as she stepped deeper into the overgrown trail.

It wouldn’t do for the land to get a taste of their blood.

Chapter Two

Squashing the hiccupping sob, Julia refused to let fear take hold. Rarely was she parted from Markus while on assignment. Even then, she’d had other Enforcers with her. This situation was outside her realm of comfort. Then again, comfort wasn’t the motto for Enforcers, and neither was crying like a baby. Years of training stiffened her backbone as she assessed her situation .

Now trapped in Fay with the most wanted fugitive alive, she needed an escape plan, maybe a distraction. Still a little woozy from the sleep spell, she shrugged her shoulders, stealthily checking the weight of her shoulder holster. Gone. Where in the nine hells was her gun?

Her belt was lighter as well. A glance down revealed two empty sheaths. Damn it, her knives, too. She almost rounded on Jackson to demand the return of her weapons. Those knives had been a gift from Markus, one of her few treasured possessions. Losing her temper wouldn’t help the situation, and Jackson seemed to have a destination in mind. She’d stick with him until they left this cursed land.

At least she still had her blasting rod and spell component belt. If they battled it out with spells, she’d have the upper hand. Jackson wouldn’t suspect her of magic resistance.

No one did. Thank goodness for that, or she would’ve lost her head, literally, years ago. After all, beheading was the favoured method for dealing with her.

A fountain of blood, long blonde hair flying in the air and a headless body dropping at her feet.

Refusing to lose herself in the pain, she forced the image away, needing all her wits to get out of this alive and back to Markus.

Speaking of, she had no clue where Markus was or what had happened to him. And while she had no idea how to get back home, she was an Enforcer, damn it. She could handle this. First point of order was getting out of this lousy forest. It was beautiful but oh-so bloodthirsty.

As if it heard her thoughts, a vine caught around her foot and tugged, yanking Julia to the ground. Instinctively, she braced against the fall, landing hard on her hands and knees. Branches reached out and scraped her face with sharp thorns. Pure luck saved her eyes from damage.

Tiny drops of blood dripped down her jaw and landed on the brown forest floor. Fascinated, she watched as the dirt and decaying leaves absorbed the vibrant red liquid, greedy for her life essence. Not a hint of it remained.

A tremor vibrated through the ground, rustling the dead plant matter where her blood had fallen.

Scrambling backwards on hands and knees, only to bump into sturdy legs, she managed to avoid touching the swirling undergrowth. The air became electric, almost painful, from so much energy. Gagging over the stench of death and rot, she struggled to settle her near empty stomach. Vomiting would not help her tough Enforcer image.

The Fae creature stood almost eight feet tall, covered in putrid leaves, twigs, and grass with mud and dirty water dripping down its body. A black hole opened and let loose an unearthly noise. It burrowed deep into her mind, rattled her teeth, and nearly ruptured her eardrums. A moment passed before she realized several rows of sharp, jagged teeth filled its mouth.

All the better to rend flesh from the bones of its prey.

---

Damn it, damn it all! The guardians have tasted your blood. We need to get of here. Now!" he growled in frustration then swore some more. Once a guardian tasted an intruder’s blood, it was near impossible to lose them in Fae lands .

Reaching the exit portal would take them a few minutes. They could make it. They had to. He grabbed her upper arm firmly and pulled her to her feet. Wary of sudden movement, they gave the mass of leaves and debris swirling around the large creature a wide berth. Instead of attacking, though, it just continued to scream.

Safely past the guardian, they rushed through the trees and bushes, heedless of more scratches or spilled blood. Uninterrupted by any other creature, their headlong