Kat nodded. “My sensei taught me a little kendo, and I fenced competitively in college. I’m not a knight, but I know which end of the blade goes in the target.”
Next she tackled the armor, dragging magic in and pouring it out, following the patterns of force in Ridge’s armor. It was, she thought, a bit like singing a song someone else had written. Her first try at a full suit was a bit misshapen, but she kept working, destroying the suit and recreating it until she was satisfied.
Finally Kat stepped up to the full-length mirror and considered her gleaming reflection. Her head ached from the effort of all that ferocious concentration, but at least the thing looked right. The armored plates followed the contours of her body, and the joints matched her own, with no gaps to allow a weapon to penetrate. She twisted back and forth to test the armor’s flexibility. And smiled in satisfaction. It was light as construction paper, but strong as the steel it appeared to be.
So she’d passed the first test she’d set herself. “Okay, now let’s try the hard part.” She reached down the gorget of her armor and drew out the silver locket she’d been wearing for days now. Concentrated.
“Uhh, Kat . . . ” Ridge said uneasily.
She ignored him, all her focus on pouring magic into the locket and listening to the returning echo of energy. First came a familiar scent she hadn’t smelled in so many years, she’d almost forgotten it.
Kat found herself smiling. “Cherry lip gloss and my mother’s Nicole perfume. My sister always filched Mom’s perfume when she went out.”
Then another odor cut through the familiar smell. Like the smell of dog fur, only ranker, tinged with the copper taint of blood and the nauseating reek of death. Kat sent more magic pouring into the necklace. “Show me. Let me see him!”
At first nothing happened. She gritted her teeth and concentrated harder on the killer’s feral reek.
“Are you sure you should try to do this now?” Ridge’s green eyes narrowed in worry.
“No, but I have to do it anyway.” Her heart raced with a sense of urgency. “I’ve got this really bad feeling.” As if something horrible was going to happen if she didn’t act now.
The scent vanished. “Shit! I’ve lost it.”
“Don’t try to force the magic.” Ridge dropped a hand on her armored shoulder, encouraging her to meet his eyes. “It’s like fighting. If you overthink it, you get in your own way.”
That made sense, thanks to all those years of martial arts training. She forced rigid muscles to loosen, then sent her magic rolling into the locket again.
A woman shrieked. Kat jumped, eyes snapping wide. “That’s real. That’s happening now!”
Somewhere, Karen’s killer was closing in on another victim.
Ridge bent to jerk his jeans off the floor. “We’ve got to get to her.” He stepped into the pants, jerked them up his legs, zipped, grabbed his sword. “Open a dimension gate.”
“How the hell . . . Oh.” She remembered the swirling iris of magic Grace had created, the rippling sensation as she’d stepped through. Gathering her magic, Kat sent it pouring into the air.
It began as a single glowing point that rapidly expanded into a swirling opening that showed a view of moonlit trees.
Another scream rang out, raw with pure panic.
“Bloody hell,” Ridge snarled, and leaped through the gate. Kat shot after him, praying the dimensional door wouldn’t dissolve with them halfway through.
Leaves crunched underfoot as they landed, and she puffed out a relieved breath. Still dressed in her conjured armor, Kat lifted the sword she held. Ridge had grabbed his own blade before he jumped, but he wore only the jeans. She bit her lip and concentrated, but his armor did not appear. “Nothing’s happening!”
“We’re on mortal Earth,” he hissed back, scanning the night with narrow eyes. “Magic doesn’t work as easily here. Try again.”
Kat sought her magic again. After a moment she found it: a thin, burning thread glowing inside her mind, instead of surrounding her as it did in the Mageverse.
No wonder magic was harder to use here.
Reaching deep, Kat concentrated ferociously on the armor she’d repaired. Called it.
And watched in satisfaction as it swirled into being around Ridge, covering him in magical steel.
He didn’t even look down to watch it appear, instead tilting his head back, inhaling deeply as if seeking a scent. “This way.” He set off, moving swiftly and silently through the woods.
Another scream rang out, and he broke into a run, bounding through the night with a vampire’s blurring speed. Kat conjured a light and raced after him in its bobbing glow.
Ridge grabb