Siphoning Magic

Chapter 1

"If you don't let me through and something happens to my brother Alik so help me I will feed your balls to Aleandra myself."

The Russian eyed me wearily, taking in my perfectly coiffed curls with some amusement. Alik knew me well enough that my current outer appearance was probably more than a little entertaining. He refrained from commenting but didn't budge from in front of the heavy oak door that I knew led to Aleandra's office. He held his ground, shifting his gaze to stare straight ahead of me, well above my actual head. The only common trait the twins shared was their wide blue-green eyes that seemed to penetrate straight through your soul when their gaze was directed your way, which I normally prefer not to do, especially with Alik. Whenever he directed his steely gaze at me I felt my heart stutter a bit underneath my rib cage, something else he found amusing. If it weren't for the fact his sister, Aleandra, wasn't over me he might have done something about it.

"Aleandra is not here."

"Then what's the problem?"

He looked around, his gaze shifting slightly to me and back ahead.

"Please Alik, this is all my fault. He wouldn't be here if it weren't for me. Whatever has happened, I need to help him." I laid my hand on the hulking man's chest.

Alik stiffened at the warmth of me which was a far cry better than when he used to stumble back at every accidental brush against him. He held his breath in his chest and released it just as slowly as he looked at me.

"Pupsik..." He whispered, his eyes met mine, softening the way they only ever did for me and I flinched. He only ever used terms of endearment when things were really, really bad.

Before he could say anything else though the door behind him shuddered in the wall and I felt it: the short crackle of electricity that ran along the edge of the door, searching. The same energy that had reached out to me as my brother's blood had spilled to the ground in a panic. My nostrils flared and my heart sped up as I pushed myself away from Alik's tall frame. His shaved head gleamed under the harsh lighting, it hung heavy and I could feel the weight of his resolve trickle into nothing.

"Are you going to move or am I going to move you, Alik?"

Suddenly the door behind him swung open revealing a very frazzled but quite frankly relieved-looking Feliks. His lanky body shaking as much as his voice had been when I had called him. Alik let me push his hard body to the side without a word as I threw myself into the room frantically searching for Muhammad. I found him lying on the small couch all legs and limbs sprawled across the cherry red leather.

My heart did a nervous flutter at his sallow pallor. It was such a stark contrast to his usual bright olive-toned complexion that I sucked in a shaky breath. Trying to restrain myself from going into full-out panic mode, I gingerly sat on the edge of the couch leaning over to examine him without touching anything. Ripped straight through his shirt and flesh were 4 long gashes across his neck and torso. Long, deep rivers of muscle and blood blended into the deep red of his shirt, the same burnt mahogany of the couch he was lying on. I jerked my eyes away from the glistening white of bone finding Feliks and Ali's very pointed look. I ignored it, my head whipping around to Felix.

"What did you do?" I asked.

At my tone his blue-green eyes, so much like Muhammad's, flinched-but it was the crackle of my magic that made him pale. I was pleased to see the fear racketing up in his gaze. I let the magic wander across my shoulders, felt it snap and pop off of me onto the floor, skittering over the walls and couch. It was searching again, but instead of searching for me, it was looking for my brother and the open wounds that left him dying.