Reading the text, I clenched my phone and shoved it in my pocket.
A little heads up would have been nice.
As much as I hated having Damian’s men following me and reporting my every move back to him, I had a target on my back and appreciated the protection.
Rhia grinned while taking in the shifters’ measures. “Well, at least they’re not terrible looking.”
I scowled because she was right. They were all built like brick houses and hunky as all hell. But I had eyes for only one man, and I was pretty sure that if he were here right now, I would tear him a new one. And then maybe jump his bones. Right before he killed me.
Clearly, my body wasn’t into thinking through consequences.
Rhia unlocked the doors of our official silver cruiser. There were perks to being an Order detective, but I couldn’t fully appreciate them with the hot flaming mess I was currently wrapped up in.
We climbed in, and Rhia started the car. “Matthias’s house is in the Gaslight District, right?”
“That’s right. The address is 6300 Stone Haven.” I’d been there a few times when it was still standing. That was before I’d discovered that Matthias was the treacherous bastard behind the stolen genies and the attacks on Magic Side.
“Okay, we’ll check it out, but we’re going to Sammy’s right after this. Deal?” Rhia gave me a pointed look.
“Deal.” I peered into the side mirror as we pulled out of the marina parking lot. The shifters were following us in a black SUV. Irritation prickled the back of my neck, even if having backup wasn’t the worst idea. I just wished that backup had been somebody else.
Ugh. I needed to stop thinking about Damian. He. Could. Kill. Me. It would be insane to think otherwise.
Wouldn’t it?
The morning traffic had eased up, and we made it to Matthias’s house—or at least what was left of it—in under ten minutes.
We needed to figure out what Matthias was up to. He was after me, for certain. But I was only one piece of the puzzle. He’d used his genies to create a new elemental plane—a Realm of Chaos—and was assembling an army of demons. Why, I wasn’t exactly sure, but there a chance he was planning to invade the city.
It wasn’t just my freedom at stake. It was all of Magic Side.
Rhia parked alongside the curb. Ignoring the shifters who pulled up behind us, I stepped up to the twisted remains of the wrought-iron fence that once surrounded the yard. Two pieces of torn, yellow police tape blew in the gentle breeze.
“Can’t believe the Order hasn’t cleaned this mess up yet.” Rhia stopped beside me.
“Guess they’ve had their hands full. Lucky for us.”
We picked our way through the wreckage, searching for anything that might be useful. But all that remained were brick and mortar and a few pieces of splintered furniture. Matthias had likely taken everything of importance before destroying the house—though I bet the bastard hadn’t anticipated us looking into the past.
I grinned at Rhiannon. “Ready to do your thing?”
Rhia was a time traveler. While she still hadn’t mastered the whole traveling into the past part, she could look into it, and even slow the present down. It was a pretty badass ability, though it didn’t come without its risks.
Rhia crouched and closed her eyes, resting her palm on a charred brick. The wind picked up, and the police tape danced in the air, making a cracking sound. Two of the hot shifters leaned against the black SUV and watched us closely.
“Holy shit,” Rhia whispered. As the curse left her lips, the air vibrated with energy and a thunderous crack rang out.
“Was that your magic?” I said, clutching my ringing ears. If so, I’d never seen that happen before.
“No.” Rhiannon stood, worry tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Uh, Neve.”
My heartbeat quickened, and I followed her gaze to the far corner of the building. The scent of smoke and hot iron burned my nose. My body tensed.
“Good morning, Nevaeh.” Matthias stood between two demons with sickly green skin and hollow eyes. Their hellish appearance was a bizarre contrast to his precise style, consisting of a striped shirt tucked neatly into dark, pressed trousers. “And this must be the blonde friend that the djinn has told me so much about. So nice to finally make your acquaintance.”
“Asshole.” The wind picked up around me, and the tattoos that wound over my chest and arms itched as my magic flared to life.
Growls erupted from behind, and a massive black wolf stepped into my periphery. Holy heck. The wolf bared its teeth, and its fur bristled. Holy shit. I’d gotten used to Gretchen shifting, but this guy was on another level.
“You brought wolves,” Matthias sneered, a look of disgust painted on his fucking face. “Well, I brought something of yours.”
My heart plummeted, and fear took root as Matthias pulled his hands from behind his back. In the right, he held an enchanted bottle. In the left, my old khanjar. The two components needed to bind a genie—a powerful receptacle, and an object treasured by the djinn.
My gut clenched. This was it.
I whipped my hands up and blasted the bottle and khanjar out of his hands with precise jets of air.
He leapt into the air on black wings and cried “Ascaranda bettayo.”
Say what now?
The demons surged forward as Matthias flicked his wrist and my old khanjar leapt back into his hand—he was an iron mage with mastery over metal.
The black wolf to my right launched into the air, tearing out the throat of the closest adversary. Dark blood dribbled out of the wolf’s jaws. It shook the demon in his mouth and slung the body into the piles of burnt brick.
Damn, these wolves were badass.
Mind-bending screeches filled the air as more demons leapt from behind the ruins and charged over the rubble in an unnatural, four-legged run. These fuckers were scary as all hell.
Wolves leapt up on either side of us, ripping into the demons. A hellish corpse slammed to the ground at my feet, and I leapt back as it melted into black smoke. The problem with demons was that they didn’t die when you killed them. Their bodies regenerated in the underworld, and unless they’d been banished with a spell, they’d likely return.
“Seriously, Matthias?” Rhiannon screamed, kicking the feet of a demon. “You brought demons to do your dirty work?”
Another attacked from behind. Rhia loosed her magic bolas named Hercules. The two balls whipped through the air and wrapped around the attacker’s neck, the force of the impact driving him to the ground.
Where the heck had he come from? A quick glance around told me what I’d feared. Matthias had torn a portal through the ether. Scores of demons funneled through the portal and, though the wolves were cutting through them quickly, we were still gravely outnumbered.
Anger poured through my veins, and I rose into the air. Wind howled around me, mirroring the rage clouding my mind. Splintered rafters, chunks of mortar, and two demons flew through the air. I grinned with satisfaction.
Bricks whipped around us like meteors, pelting cars and houses, and mowing down monsters. Now where was Matthias?
Rhia shouted. A wolf was holding onto her by her belt and guarding her from the flying shrapnel with his body.
Panic tore through me. I was losing control. In the past, Damian’s presence had always calmed me.
Closing my eyes, I focused on his face and the way his signature wrapped around me when we were close. My anger spiked, but then calmed, and the noise around me quieted.
“Nice work, Neve, but next time, direct the windstorm at your target, would ya?” Rhia shouted.
I opened my eyes. She’d climbed to her feet, and despite her disheveled hair, she was punching another demon in the face. Badass bitch.
Frantically searching for Matthias, I blasted a gust of wind toward a demon who materialized behind Rhia. The eddy slammed him backward, and he crashed into a pile of debris, impaled on a splintered door frame.
The col
d whispers of an incantation dug into my bones, and I snapped my head up.
Matthias.
His eyes flashed with delight as he recited the spell. He held the bottle with both hands.
The words of the spell drained my power and wound around my throat like a garrot, strangling me. Agony cascaded through my body as he tore my freedom from me. I dropped to my knees.
This was not happening.
I could not let it.
Damian
The fluorescent light buzzed overhead as I rammed my knuckles into the demon’s nose. It shattered with a sickening crunch.
The warehouse had been abandoned a few years ago due to structural damage. Most of the windows were blown out, and a large crack snaked across the building’s western wall.
“Where is Matthias?” My voice echoed through the empty space.
The demon’s head lolled to the side, a trickle of blood seeping out of his right nostril. He looked up at me with those black, soulless eyes and cracked a grin. “Close, angel. Close.”
I growled and shook out my hand. My men had managed to track down two of Matthias’s demons and brought them to the warehouse for questioning. After some grisly work, I’d gotten a few answers out of the first, but nothing substantial.
Matthias was keeping his cards close to his chest, and his minions barely knew their own roles in the plan. I had to figure out his next move before he got the jump on us. Again.
Frustration raged in my heart. I knew Matthias was planning something—I knew him all too well. We’d been as close as brothers once and fought side by side against the Watchers, an order of Angels that were supposed to watch over the earth.
But watch was all they did. They had extremely powerful magic, but seldom acted, not wishing to interfere with the fate of the world.
I’d been one of them once. But eventually, I couldn’t take their arrogance and callous dispassion any longer, and I’d rebelled. For a long time, there’d been a price on my head.
I’d betrayed the angels and joined Matthias. Now, he’d betrayed me.
Maybe it was fitting. Maybe it was what I deserved in the end. But Neve certainly didn’t deserve to be tied up in my mess.
I shook my head, knowing the truth. For as many things as I’d mess up, this wasn’t about me or my history with Matthias.
He was after something much, much bigger.
Neve and her genie powers were at the center of his plans. I was just an inconvenient problem to be ignored while he hunted her. I’d do anything to stop him from getting to her. I just had to find an opening.
Wrapping my hand around the demon’s throat, I pushed my cold magic into him. He began to shake and shiver. “I will turn you into a block of ice, if you don’t tell me where Matthias is and what he’s planning.”
The devil just cackled through chattering teeth. “Go ahead and kill me, fallen. I’ll just come back from hell to haunt you again and again.”
I growled and shoved the chair and devil over backwards. “Fine. If that’s all you’ve got for me, we’re done here.”
I tossed one of my men a pair of magicuffs. “Put those on him and sink him in the lake.”
Fear flashed across the demon’s face, and he tugged against the ropes that bound his wrists to the chair. With his magic restrained by the cuffs, he wouldn’t return to the underworld to regenerate when he died. He’d be stuck at the bottom of the lake, somewhere between the clutches of life and death.
I had no pity for him.
I grabbed the rag from the back of the vacant metal chair and wiped my bloodied knuckles. The skin had already knit itself together, but the bones still throbbed.
I flexed my fists. It had been a week since I’d been in the ring, and I needed to blow off some steam. Clear my head and get control. I hadn’t seen Neve for two days, but she bombarded my thoughts, her magic relentlessly tugging on my dragon senses like a magnetic force. If it pulled any harder, I was bound to snap.
I couldn’t change what I was—a FireSoul— but I’d considered asking Neve to wish away my magic cravings. I knew it was possible because I’d had the djinn do it once before. It would certainly lessen my cravings, but I’d lose much of my power in the process.
The dragon within roared in protest.
No.
I couldn’t afford that with Matthias on our heels. Maybe once we’d defeated him.
The demon laughed behind me. “You’re thinking of the genie woman, aren’t you?”
Beating this fuck might help me focus.
Leaning his head back, the demon closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. “You want to drink her in, take everything.” He lowered his gaze to mine and sneered. “I don’t blame you, FireSoul.”
I growled, but the demon was right.
My cravings had grown since Neve had transitioned to a full djinn. Anger and guilt punched me in my gut. She’d done it save me, and now I was drawn to her magic like a moth to a flame.
In the past, my craving for power had grown so strong that nothing could stop me from taking what I wanted. I’d killed indiscriminately.
I couldn’t stomach the idea of losing control and hurting Neve. Every part of my heart screamed that it wasn’t possible, but my past whispered that it was.
My past was proof. It would only be a matter of time.
The best thing I could do to protect her was to stay away and hunt down Matthias. To do that, I needed to rein in the dragon.
“It won’t be long now. He’s coming for her.” The demon was taunting me, hoping to buy time, but I’d take the bait.
“What do you mean?” I crossed the distance and lowered my gaze to his. “Where is he exactly?”
“That depends. What time is it?”
A low rumble built in my chest, and flames cascaded down my arms. “Where?”
My voice boomed through the empty space, and the demon grimaced. “Don’t know. Only that he’s planning to catch her today.”
I glanced at Tommy. “See that this bastard is on the bottom of Lake Michigan.”
Slipping a pair of magicuffs into my back pocket, I turned and exited the warehouse. The demon’s curses echoed behind me as I pulled out my phone. Glancing down at the screen, it rang. Alastair. Just the man I was going to call.
“What is it?” I answered.
“Malek, we’ve got a situation. Matthias and his gang of demons are here. We need backup.”
A growl slipped from my throat. “Where are you?”
“A burnt down house at 6300 Stone Haven.”
They’d gone to Matthias’s house. Gods damn it.
“Protect Miss Cross, whatever it takes.” Ending the call, I slipped the phone into my pocket.
There was no time do drive. Unleashing my wings, I launched into the air. Flight in Magic Side was prohibited, but I wasn’t one to be bound by the Order’s laws.
Soaring over the old warehouses in the Dockside Dens, I narrowed my eyes on the Gaslight District.
I’m coming for you, Matthias.
3
Neve
My vision blurred from the pain. I clutched my stomach, gasping for air. My insides felt like they were being wrung through a juicer, and the binding spell clenched around me, draining my magic.
Shithead Matthias.
He hovered in the air on black wings, just out of reach of the wolves, as if taunting them. All the while, he recited the damn binding spell. The same one he’d taught me to use, the one I’d trapped the djinn with almost three weeks ago.
Each word drew the noose tighter, and gods did it hurt.
“Neve!” Rhia grabbed my shoulders, pulling me upright.
My muscles cramped at the sudden movement, and I screamed.
“I’m going to slow down time so we can get the hell out of here,” she said.
I nodded, blinking rapidly to clear my vision. A demon lurched toward us, then—as if Rhiannon had hit pause on a TV remote—his movements slowed to a halt. The agony inside me lessened as
Matthias’s chant paused.
“Come on! I can’t hold it for long.” Rhiannon tugged on my arm. All the shifters and demons around us were frozen in place.
“Wait.” I turned to Matthias. Now was my chance to nab the POS. I reached for the pair of magicuffs on my holster, but my fingers came up short. Damn I’d left them on the front seat of the car.
Did I have time to grab them?
The movements of the demons and shifters began to quicken. Still slow like molasses, but definitely faster. Rhia’s hold on time was slipping.
Guess I’d have to restrain Matthias the hard way.
I wasn’t sure I could fly, so I’d have to knock him out of the sky.
I leapt over a pile of bricks and closed the distance with him, drawing my magic to my fists. But instead of an avalanche, it felt like a trickle. The binding spell was bleeding my power.
“Incoming!” Rhia screamed, and time returned.
Confusion crossed Matthias’s face as the last word he’d spoken drawled out of his throat. With the flick of my wrists, I blasted him head over heels with a burst of wind. That tiny release of magic left me drained, but he landed on his ass in the middle of the bricks with a satisfying crunch.
Panic rose in my throat, so I latched onto the anger coursing through me. It gave me strength.
Matthias scrambled for the khanjar as I crossed toward him. I pinned him in place with a steady stream of air and sucked the breath from his lungs with a single inhale. His face contorted, and he clutched at his throat.
My anger fueled my magic, so I fed it, focusing on all the shit he’d done to me.
Everything around me quieted—the screams and growls, the crashing—it all faded away. Everything but my rage for Matthias.
Gods, I could kill him right now. And I wanted to. More than anything else in the world, I wanted to snuff the life right out of him.
No.
The whisper of reason bounced off the walls of my conscious mind. I’d made a blood oath with Zara to bring Matthias in alive. The consequences of breaking the oath didn’t bother me as much as breaking the promise.
But I wanted to kill him so bad. Make him suffer for the pain he’d caused me and my friends.
Broken Skies (Dragon's Gift: The Storm Book 4) Page 2