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  End Stage

  Hedge Mage and Medicine Book 5

  SA Magnusson

  Copyright © 2019 by SA Magnusson

  Cover art by Covers by Christian

  All rights reserved.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Author’s Note

  Also by SA Magnusson

  1

  The knock on the door jarred me awake, and I jumped out of bed, gripping a pair of spell coins I kept on my nightstand for just such a situation. I thought it had to be early enough that no one should be here, but when I looked over at the clock I saw it was nearly 9 a.m. I frowned at the clock, thinking it couldn’t be that late.

  I’d overslept.

  In the last few weeks, I had found myself far more tired than I had ever been before. It was like jetlag, and yet it was the kind of jetlag I wasn’t able to recover from. It wasn’t terribly surprising given that we had just returned from the other side of the Veil, but I was still surprised at how it overwhelmed me. I’d been warned that returning from the beyond the Veil could have consequences, and knew when Darvish had returned he had been exhausted, but this was even more extreme than I had expected.

  Slipping on a pair of scrub pants, I pulled my robe on, and headed toward the door. The kitchen was a mess. A bottle of wine lay tipped over, the red staining the counter. I would have to get that cleaned up before it was permanent. Dishes were piled up in the sink, untouched over the last few weeks. Lucy pushed against my leg, meowing at me.

  I glanced toward the door, but the knock didn’t come again. Maybe it had been my imagination. Or better yet, Lucy had knocked something over. It wouldn’t be the first time the cat had startled me awake, though most the time she did so by jumping on my chest and forcing me to pay attention to her. In this case, it was something else.

  Testing the magical barriers around the condo, I didn’t detect anything unusual. They were intact, as they had been every day since I’d returned from the other side of the Veil.

  The knock came again.

  Pausing in the middle of the living room, I held on to my spell coins, prepared to throw an attack. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to unleash something painful or simply incapacitating. Either one had its benefits, and when it came to an unknown assailant, I had long ago learned it was better to be on the cautious side than to be surprised.

  When the knock came a third time, I reached the door, pausing in front of it. Rather than assuming it was a magical attack, I decided to take a more mundane approach. “Who is it?”

  “Dr. Stone?”

  I didn’t recognize the voice, but that wasn’t altogether surprising. I had lived in the building in my friend Kate’s condo for the better part of the last two years, and in that time, I had barely gotten to know any of the other people who lived here. Kate knew them well, and I think part of her intention for me staying here had been to offer a certain level of protection to the people here, but with my schedule – and learning magic the way I had been – I hadn’t taken the time to get to know them.

  “Who is it?” I asked again.

  “It’s Marvin, your neighbor?”

  I frowned at myself. I knew him to be an old man – frail, but he was someone Kate had fondness for.

  “Now isn’t a good time, Marvin,” I said.

  “I just heard something, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  It was times like these I wished the door had a peephole, but it had long ago been removed. Magic had removed it, and it was done presumably to ensure the protections here were even more solid.

  “I had a long night. I need to get back to sleep,” I said.

  There was a moment of silence, and in that moment I felt ashamed of myself. I shouldn’t be so harsh with Marvin. This was a man who was doing nothing more than trying to look out for my welfare, and yet I didn’t need for him to do that.

  “Well, if you need anything, Dr. Stone, I’m right next door.”

  I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and waited. There was no other sound, and after counting in my head to fifty, I pulled the door open, glancing along the hallway. The hall was empty, and I didn’t feel any sense of magic, though I didn’t expect to. I tested to ensure the barriers around the condo were intact, and when I was confident they were, I pulled the door closed again, sealing it behind me.

  Turning to the living room, I stopped suddenly. Someone was inside.

  Dropping a coin on the floor, I threw up a barrier, holding it tightly around me. I was reasonably well rested, and because of that, the amount of magic I was able to summon was enough, though not nearly what a full-fledged mage would have been able to call upon.

  “How did you get in here?”

  “I believe you opened the door, Dr. Stone.” Jean-Pierre Rorsch turned in place, and examined the inside of the condo. He was dressed in a dark suit, and his gray hair was neatly combed. It gave him an elegant appearance, and yet, this was an extremely dangerous vampire.

  “Why are you here?” I snapped.

  “I’m here because of you.”

  “Because of me?”

  He cocked his head, turning toward me. When he did, there was a subtle flash of fangs. I could feel something from him, though I wasn’t sure if it was his attempt to influence me or whether it was a hint of emotion. As his familiar, somehow bonded to him and gifted with aspects of his abilities, I was able to pick up on certain parts of his mood, though I didn’t want to know about that.

  “You need my help,” he said.

  I snorted, and moved past him into the kitchen. I filled the kettle, and set it on the stove, turning the heat on.

  “What makes you think I need you?”

  “You forget, Dr. Stone, we are bonded now.”

  “Serving as your familiar allows you to know that about me, does it?”

  “It allows me to know many things, Dr. Stone.”

  I tensed, but kept my back to him. It was dangerous to keep myself turned away from a dangerous vampire like this, but I had been around Jean-Pierre Rorsch often enough over the last two years that I didn’t feel as threatened by him. I doubted he would do anything to me, and more likely than not, he only wanted to come and taunt me. It was unlikely he even needed me for anything.

  “Are you going to get to why you came here?”

  “As I said, I came here for you, Dr. Stone.” He paused in front of the sink, and shifted the dishes around. “You have not been answering my calls.”

  I frowned. Had he been calling? Over the last few days, I had lost track of many things, not least of which was him calling. I didn’t think he had, but then again, I didn’t know. And for that matter, I didn’t care.

  “You have begun to let yourself go, Dr. Stone. After what you’ve experienced, do you not believe that is danger
ous?”

  “I’m still recovering.”

  “Recovering from your journey, or recovering from something else?”

  I cleared a small space on the kitchen surface to make tea. I didn’t turn my attention to Jean-Pierre. “From the other side of the Veil.”

  “If that’s all, then it is understandable. From what I hear, you experienced a dangerous situation.”

  “We survived.”

  We had, and because of me, I had helped ensure we were safe. But we had almost not survived – it had taken a significant effort on my part, and had I not learned I could trigger spells in my mind, I doubt we would have survived. Even now, the memories of that time haunted me, occasionally filling my dreams. It was part of the reason for the empty bottle of wine. I tried not to think about what we had encountered, or what I might experience if I were ever to cross back over the Veil, though I had no interest in attempting it. The other side was incredibly dangerous, especially to someone like myself. I might have the ability to trigger coins, devices which carried within them the spell power, but I wasn’t able to use real magic. When it came to that side, using real magic was the key.

  “Survived, and thwarted something dangerous from what I understand.”

  It glanced over at him, frowning. I hadn’t known everything about what we had done, only that we had freed Kate, Barden, Veran, and Cynthia from a trap. It had been dangerous, and had I not gone after them, it was likely they wouldn’t have survived. The trap that had held them was far more than most would have been able to survive. “I don’t know how dangerous it was. Those creatures are fairly common on that side of the Veil.”

  “Are they?”

  I glanced over to him, frowning to myself. “Aren’t they?”

  He merely shrugged. “How are you doing?” His gaze drifted down to the empty bottle of wine, the dishes in the sink, and finally up to my face.

  “What are you getting at?”

  “All I’m getting at is that I would like to know how my familiar is doing. If you are going to be of any use to me, I can’t have you allowing yourself to become so lost that you are useless.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t take that as an insult, Dr. Stone. I say it simply because I am concerned about your current state.”

  “You don’t have to worry about my state.”

  “Ah, but I do.”

  There was something about the way he said it, and I took a deep breath before letting it out heavily. “You’ve been talking to Barden.”

  “I must admit he is concerned for you.”

  “If he’s so concerned, he can come to me himself.”

  “I believe he has tried to.”

  Barden had tried, and in the last week or so, I’d had no interest in seeing anyone. I had called in sick to work for the most part, staying home, and avoided everything and everyone. It was easiest that way. “Barden knows I’m fine, the same way I suspect you know I’m fine.”

  “I doubt it’s the same,” Jean-Pierre said.

  “No. Barden hasn’t turned me into his familiar, so you’re right. It’s not the same way.”

  Jean-Pierre smiled at me. He took the tea kettle off the stove, setting it to the side. Steam hissed out of the opening. He reached into a cupboard and found a mug. I didn’t even question how he knew which cupboard to go to, only that he went to the right one. When he was done, he added a teabag, poured hot water over it, and handed it to me. “Should we take a seat and speak?”

  “I get the feeling I don’t have a choice.”

  “On the contrary, Dr. Stone.”

  I didn’t have a choice. When it came to Jean-Pierre and what I was able to do with someone like him, I was forced to sit down, talk to him, answer whatever questions he might have for me. And besides, it was difficult enough to get Jean-Pierre in the same room as me. Most the time, he was hard enough for me to contact, and for him to come here to my home meant he was worried about me.

  When I took a seat, I looked down at the teabag, saying nothing.

  “Dr. Stone?”

  “I hurt,” I said.

  “I understand.”

  “How can you understand?”

  “It’s painful when someone we care for doesn’t care for us back.”

  I grunted, taking the teabag and dipping it in the water a few times before setting it off to the side. I hadn’t steeped it long enough, but that was the mood I was in. “It has nothing to do with whether we care about each other. It has everything to do with the fact that I am who I am.”

  “And do you think you want to be with someone who doesn’t care for you as who you are?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing there was any other answer. “No.”

  I knew better than that. I knew better than to force someone who didn’t want to be with me to do so. I knew better than to try to make something happen which wasn’t going to work. And I knew better than to try to abandon a part of myself that had grown increasingly important to me. I don’t think I could even give up that part of me – the magic. Because of that, I knew what I had needed to do, and recognized the relationship between Brad and me couldn’t work, not without him accepting who and what I was.

  Which he hadn’t. And now it hurt.

  “You have to find a way past it,” he said.

  “I don’t need love advice from a vampire.”

  “You need advice from someone,” he said.

  “Fine. I will take advice from someone, but it’s not going to be you.”

  “Who would you prefer to take advice from?”

  I took another deep breath, and sipped the tea. It burned my mouth. That didn’t matter. I didn’t mind, and even thought that I might deserve it. How could I not?

  “You have others who care for you, Dr. Stone.”

  “I’m aware of that,” I said.

  “Being aware of it means you should take it into account.”

  “I’m aware of that, too.”

  “As I said, I only came because I was concerned about you. If you’re trying to reassure me there is no reason to be concerned about you, then I will believe you, but if there is any reason to be concerned about you, well, I am here for you, Dr. Stone.”

  “Because you worry about what would happen if you didn’t have your familiar?”

  “I don’t benefit from my familiar enough to be concerned about that.”

  “What benefit do you get from your familiar?” That was something I had yet to understand, though there had to be some benefit to him.

  “There is no significant benefit to me.”

  “You wouldn’t have been so willing to make me your familiar if there was no benefit to you. What is it?”

  Jean-Pierre watched me, and he leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. His gaze drew my eye, and there was something intense about the way he looked at me and the power within his expression, and I recognized that he was using his influence upon me. I was familiar enough with that influence in the way he used it to know what he was doing to me, but even knowing what he was doing didn’t change that I was falling prey to it.

  “You don’t need to use your power on me,” I said.

  “What power do you presume I’m using on you?”

  “Whatever influence you’re using. I can feel it. You don’t need to do it.”

  Jean-Pierre smiled, and there came a flash of fangs. “I’m only here because I’m concerned about your well-being.”

  “And I’ve told you, my well-being is fine. You don’t need to be worried about me.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was true or not. I had withdrawn. Ever since telling Brad about my connection to the magical world, and getting his reaction, I had been off. He wanted time to understand, and to figure things out for himself, and in that time, he had made it clear he didn’t want to see me or speak with me.

  It was such an abrupt change that it had been jarring. I had grown up my entire life knowing abuse, and I had strengthened myself, making it so I wouldn’t withstan
d anything like that again, and all it had taken was one person to torment me the same way again. I didn’t expect it to be Brad. Ever since the two of us had started dating, he’d been kind to me, showing me nothing but respect. I still didn’t like what he had done, and yet how could I blame him? I was asking for him to join me in a strange world, one where he didn’t have any power, and because of that, he would be restricted from being able to do anything, and he would be exposed to people and creatures far more skilled than him.

  It was a far cry from what he’d experienced within the medical world. Within medicine, Brad was knowledgeable and skilled and now he had risen to the rank of an attending, and one who garnered respect within our local ER, it would be a dramatic change for him to go to a place where he would be powerless.

  “Why did you really come?”

  “Can’t I just be concerned about my familiar?”

  “If that were only the reason, I would not have any problem with it, but I feel as if there’s something more.”

  He watched me, saying nothing.

  I took a sip of the tea, which was no longer as hot, and didn’t burn my mouth now.

  “There is something I need your help with, but I don’t know if you are in the right frame of mind for it.”

  “What does it have to do with?”

  “It has to do with everything,” he said.

  I cocked a brow at him. “Everything?”

  Jean-Pierre tipped his head, nodding to me. “Everything.”

  I took a deep breath, inhaling the dark tea. There were hints of blueberry within it, though it wasn’t a blueberry tea. Taking in that aroma, I felt as if I were able to awaken just a little bit.

  “I need to do something,” I said.

  “You can work to get over your issues.”

  “I think I need to do something else,” I said. And as I said it, realized it was true. I needed to get out of my house, I needed to get out of my head, and I needed to get to the point where I returned to the magical world. Wasn’t that what I had wanted? I had wanted to incorporate my medical world in my magical world, and the one time I’d tried to do it, intentionally trying to merge them, something had happened.