Hexes and Hellfire: Kyra Bell: Book One

by Brittany Rose

  “Nice to meet you.”

  Cerise laughed, then sniffed obviously, “Liar. Stupid as well, since you don’t seem to be afraid of me either.”

  “You’re gorgeous, love the hair.”

  Cerise froze, sniffed, then smirked, “Better. Don’t lie to me again. You seem young, for an alchemist.”

  John replied before I could.

  “Her potions are of excellent quality. Abby wouldn’t dare sell them here if they weren’t. Besides, these are the last of Mirabel’s.”

  I tried not to react, but I was a little annoyed he was speaking for me, and a little grateful at the same time for redirecting Cerise’s intense gaze. I also finished unloading one of each potion on the table, so I had no excuse not to look up anymore. Challenging a shifter was a bad idea.

  The words spoken themselves wasn’t enough to get across what was going on in that moment. Her body language and tone of voice was extremely aggressive. Then in the worst timing ever, I stiffened and turned my gaze to look across the large room. Worst timing, because I felt a surge of fear and anger, which Cerise would no doubt smell. I hadn’t seen one of his kind in four years, and today was far too soon in my opinion. Also worst, because to look away from a predator was an insult, which would no doubt piss Cerise off as well.

  A Nephilim. What the hell was a half-angel bastard doing here. My answer was forthcoming, as I saw Adele shake his hand and also hand him a thick envelope using her left hand. An envelope no doubt stuffed with money.

  Cerise turned her head to follow my gaze, then turned back with a deliciously cruel smile on her face.

  “Oh, dear. That’s nothing to worry about. Serin is part of the council here, and he’s here for his… donation. Would you like to meet him?”

  “I would not.”

  Cerise’s evil grin grew wider, “Of that I’m sure. We’re you a bad girl?”

  I waved a hand dismissively, “No. A Nephilim killed my mother four years ago, if you must know, and I was surprised to see one here tonight.”

  All true, from my point of view, if horribly deceptive in lacking detail. Point was, she wouldn’t sniff a lie in that. Even the no about being a bad girl was true, though I was sure others would disagree with that self-assessment.

  Cerise’s smile soured when she scented the truth of it, like I’d taken away her new toy.

  “Miss your mommy?” she tried to recover and dig into what she expected to be a sore topic.

  I snorted, “She was an evil bitch, and got what she deserved.”

  True, but I did miss her, which is why I avoided the actual question. The comment soured Cerise further, and she gave up on me for the moment.

  “I have things to do, we’ll talk again, soon,” and stalked off with an aggressive swish.

  Unfortunately, my riposte had not only got me out of that corner, it’d also caught John’s attention.

  “Evil?”

  “Later,” I said shortly, “But if it helps, I’m not following in her footsteps.”

  Mostly.

  He nodded, and said softly, “You did good, but be careful.”

  I sighed, another warning? Were they paranoid, or was this even worse than it seemed?

  “I thought they won’t attack here, no fighting outside of the matches.”

  He grimaced, “Yes, but if you offend them then they can attack us on the road, or at home. Adele’s group is the one to be wariest of, but the others like us participate under duress and it is what it is.”

  I nodded, “Right, they already annihilated two groups because of a slight. I’m doing my best, but I can’t be polite if it’s a lie. Best I can do is be non-antagonistic.”

  He snickered, “Good point.”

  “Now, what aren’t you telling me? I’m taking it seriously, and you keep warning me anyway.”

  He sighed, “They killed Mirabel. They also killed Stephan a few months ago, in the cage. Vic wasn’t our only shifter, but he continues to fight to defend us. If he refuses, we all die.”

  I took a deep breath, and I tried not to react to that news, at least not emotionally. Vampires couldn’t scent emotions well enough to pick up lies, as could the shifters, but they were sensitive enough to pick up strong emotions.

  “Why. Mirabel I mean. Abby told me she died of old age.”

  Abby lied to me.

  I got the cage fight part, deaths in the cage would draw the crowds. Although, it was possible it was accidental, two shifters fighting was a fierce thing. Their instincts would make it hard to pull that last punch, after their opponent had consumed all their magic in healing themselves, especially if they disliked each other.

  John shifted uncomfortably, and the conversation was paused as one of the human visitors dropped a fifty for a potion. It was only after he was too far away to hear that John answered me in a low-pitched voice that wouldn’t carry. Not even for supernaturals, given the loud din of the crowd in the place.

  “She was very old, and stubborn. Not afraid of death. In truth, we can’t be sure what happened. But it was only a couple of days after she insulted Adele’s group within the hearing of others that she died under mysterious circumstances while away from the ranch. The official report reads that she died of natural causes while driving, and that she was dead before the car ran off the road and crashed. That kind of thing is easy to fake with magic.”

  I frowned, “That seems out of character. I’d think they wouldn’t have been subtle about it.”

  I doubted Cerise even understood what subtle meant.

  John barked a laugh, “True. Let’s just say Adele’s message of sympathy was very leading. Especially because the woman has none.”

  Right, so when Abby had lied to me, she’d lied with the accepted cover story. I wasn’t about to storm off and leave either, people lied all the time. The real question was if she’d have my back, that’s what counted. After all, I’d misled my new group, but I’d defend them already.

  I relaxed slightly when the Nephilim left. I really hated those bastards. Sure, some were probably fine, but most were arrogant assholes who abused their power. Humans loved them, because they were part angel, as if that meant a damned thing. They were also mortal.

  Angels were good and shit, trustworthy. That was because they’d already proved what side they were on, they were tested and passed, when the other angels rebelled and had fallen to become demon kind.

  It was like the humans believed that innate goodness rubbed off on their progeny, which was total bullshit. Their souls, Nephilim souls, wouldn’t be weighed until this mortal life had been spent. They were just like the rest of us, and ironically the belief in them that they were good, infallible, usually meant they turned into arrogant assholes. In short, they believed their own press.

  It didn’t help, that it was a Nephilim’s supposed sacrifice in battle, taking down a half demon with his last breath to prevent the apocalypse, and he was considered a hero by everyone. The truth was different from that. I’d been there after all, but perception was everything. The catholic church had even sainted the bastard. They’d be shocked to find out it was really all his fault, and it was him that brought about exposure of the supernatural world.

  That was a little deep for most twenty-year-old beings, but I had a reason to have put a lot of thought into it.

  Because I had to believe, that the reverse was true as well. If they didn’t inherit their parent’s holiness, then I didn’t inherit my father’s sins and god’s judgment, and I wasn’t destined for the lake of fire. No more than those angelic bastards were destined for heaven.

  Chapter Five

  Blood soaked the dirt floor of the cage, and the fights were absolutely brutal. I’d wondered at first why they had a dirt floor, but the answer was obvious. After the first fight a hard floor would’ve been impossibly slick with blood, but the dirt and sand soaked it up.

  I doubted I’d have lasted ten seconds in there. Of course, that’s mostly because no spells or potions were allowed, it was a strai
ght up brawl. Some of the fights were in human form, most shifters were buff as hell, and wore nothing but boxers as they went after each other. The female shifters that fought were equally scantily clad, in tight short shorts and a thin sports bra. Even the winners looked like ten miles of bad road by the end of the fight, if only from the blood and guts covering their bodies.

  The crowd loved it, blood sport. It didn’t do anything for me, it wasn’t shocking or thrilling.

  After all, I’d seen a lot worse, in my short life.

  The only match I cared about was the fifth, which started over an hour and a half later. I’d sold over half the potions I’d brought. The performance enhancer was popular with the older crowd, as well as pain relief from chronic pains. The younger crowd and supernatural guests from the city picked potions from the rest of the wide assortment. The middle aged focused on the beauty products that worked better than plastic surgery.

  So far Abby and I had earned a thousand bucks each. We owed the bitch four hundred, and the night wasn’t close to over. That was a good thing, but I wasn’t sure it was worth it in that moment.

  “He’ll be fine,” John said softly.

  I wondered if he was trying to convince me or himself, and I also wondered what look on my face had betrayed the fact I was worried about Vic at all as he bounced into the ring on the balls of his feet. I also wondered why he was so worried, more secrets no doubt.

  Jason was four inches shorter than Vic at six foot one, but just as muscled and rugged looking as Vic. He had much lighter brown hair, along with hazel eyes instead of Vic’s brown. His face was a little thinner, and his ears partially pointed from his half-fae ancestry, but his body was all shifter with wide shoulders and bulging muscles.

  My eyes feasted on Vic’s mostly unclothed form, he was sexy as hell, but I tried not to let that show on my face. The last thing I was going to do was jump in bed with him anytime soon, or at all.

  If he survived the fight with a sadistic shifter-fae.

  Life was risk. Abby’s eyes met ours from across the room, and I could tell she was just as worried as we were. That said good things to me, even if we were all caving and allowing this. These people cared about each other, and I was learning more about them in how they acted under the threat of duress than I’d have learned in months just hanging with them at the ranch.

  The announcer ordered the shift. This fight would be in wolf form, and they both went to hands and knees, as their bodies started to crack, stretch, and make cringeworthy sounds. It looked like it hurt like a bitch, which was also the reality of it, although neither shifter showed that pain on their face. Their magic broke down their bones, muscle, and flesh, only to rebuild it in the new form while keeping them alive. Ten to fifteen seconds later, it was finished, and two magnificent wolves stood there.

  Vic had a shiny dark brown coat of fur, while Jason’s looked light brown with white tufts.

  I thought I’d figured out why some fought shifted and some didn’t. Shifters of different races fought in human form, while matchups shifted. That made sense, it kept things even. A coyote shifter wouldn’t stand a chance against a wolf while shifted, and a wolf would stand no chance against a bobcat or tiger, or bear for that matter.

  Well, they might, but the odds would be stacked against them in raw damage potential.

  They both lunged forward with low growls, but Vic danced to the side and turned when he didn’t have a good angle to take a bite out of his opponent, only to turn and see a wavering wolf.

  “Isn’t that cheating?”

  Jason was using fae glamor to blur his true location. Only by an inch or two, but when snapping jaws at necks that would make even that small difference significant.

  John grunted, “Technically no magic is allowed, but he’s Adele’s wolf. No one is going to call him on it, much less the announcer and referee in her pocket.”

  Right. Humans didn’t have a lock on hypocritical double standards. None of the gamblers were surprised or outraged by it either, so it must’ve been an expected and well-established double standard.

  The two wolves lunged again. That time Vic jumped away with a jagged rip down his side, which healed impossibly fast as his shifter magic took it away. At the same time, Vic had managed to mangle Jason’s front leg, but the fae-wolf healed just as quickly, only favoring the leg for a step or two.

  “I could shoot him.”

  John looked at me with alarm, but relaxed when he saw my teasing smirk.

  “Isn’t it a bit of a shot, for a tranquilizer pistol?”

  We were pretty far away.

  “Earth witch and fae too, don’t forget. The range on my weapons are somewhat extended without sacrificing accuracy. A simple enough enchantment on the darts to fly true.”

  I regretfully turned away from the action to sell a contraceptive potion. They lasted a month when drank, and they were much safer than the so-called safe pill on the human markets.

  When she walked away, I looked back just in time to see Vic bite Jason’s tail off, they were mauling the hell out of each other. Whoever did the most damage won as a rule, although some shifters had more magic than others and that counted too, experience and tactics counted more.

  Jason went down, and his haunch was spurting blood, except when Vic went for Jason’s throat. The scene wavered and Jason’s muzzle was suddenly pointed in the other direction, and Jason’s jaws closed on Vic’s instead. Jason’s tail was also suddenly whole, it hadn’t been re-growing slow after all.

  I suppressed a flinch, when John clenched his teeth and I let out a gasp.

  Damned cheater.

  Jason twisted his head and jumped up and forward with Vic’s momentum as he went flying over Jason, flipped in midair, and slammed into the ground.

  Vic moved wildly, and Jason’s jaws tore out Vic’s throat, taking blood, skin, fur and flesh with him as they separated. Vic’s throat closed quickly, but Jason was on him aggressively at that point, not giving him a moment of respite. Blood and fur flew, and the crowd cheered.

  Damned savages.

  Vic got in a couple more good licks, but Jason’s insanely aggressive series of attacks was too much for him to last all that longer.

  Vic collapsed, and was breathing like a bellows, still bleeding from several places on his body, no longer healing at all. The fight was over, obviously so, or it should have been. The ref even blew a whistle, and declared Jason the winner in his sotto voice, but Jason just growled obviously lost in the bloodlust of the intense fight. Vic may have lost, but he’d hurt Jason badly several times in the fight.

  Jason lunged for the throat, and his powerful jaws squeezed as he shook his head violently, trying to snap Vic’s neck.

  Then Jason whimpered like a puppy, and he passed out.

  John looked at me in shock, while I looked at my hand in shock. The hand that was holding a pistol, that I didn’t remember drawing.

  Well, shit. I dropped the pistol in the bag, and then tried to look innocent.

  Maybe no one noticed.

  How’s that for denial and wishful thinking, but it was my hopeful thought in that moment. Until I looked up, and saw Adele glaring at me with fire in her eyes, and real fire weaving around her fingertips like an eager puppy.

  Abby looked like she was about to faint.

  In truth, most of the people had no idea it’d been me, most of the crowd was facing away from me, toward the fighting ring. The others in booths couldn’t see me, there were walls between us. It was only the leaders across from me, as well as John that had a clue.

  I straightened my shoulders, and I looked right back. I could see it in her eyes, it’d been planned, Vic was supposed to die tonight, accidentally of course, in the heat of the fight and shifter instincts.

  Yeah, right, and that pissed me off enough to shake off the fear. Or maybe I was just too stupid.

  Well, fuck them, he was still alive, and I didn’t fear fire. Not even a little bit.

  “Welcome to the team?�
�

  John still looked shocked at what I’d done, but I could see he knew I hadn’t consciously done it.

  Adele’s eyes narrowed as they turned to the crowd, obviously pissed and wanting to kill me on the spot, but she wasn’t going to spray me down with fire in front of all those witnesses either. There were some council stooges in the audience after all, as well as humans, rich humans, who outnumbered us by millions to one. Even she wouldn’t dare to commit cold murder in front of all those people, simple bribes wouldn’t cover that when the council found out.

  Oh, the council wouldn’t care if she murdered me, not like they’d protect their own and the precious city upper class coven witches. But… they’d care if the humans found out about it. That would mark her for death, more than anything else. There was no true justice.

  I handed John two healing potions, with a significant look.

  He shook his head, and he looked at me like I was already dead before he ran down the stairs and toward the cage entrance. No, after a moment I realized he’d looked at me like I’d just killed all of us.

  Not even a thank you, for saving Vic’s life from a sadistic murderer. I really hadn’t meant to do it. I hadn’t made that decision, but I had not wanted him to die. I wouldn’t jump in front of his bullet, but letting him be proverbially shot without even trying to save him seemed… cowardly, and wrong.

  It was also confusing, to a certain extent. Vic was the last shifter in Abby’s group, so why would Adele want him dead for the shock value of it. If Vic died, there’d no longer be a driving reason to make Abby show up anymore, and she’d also lose out on potion money, not only the purses.

  Unless, Adele was already pissed at Abby’s group for something else, and I’d just screwed up her plan of revenge.

  My eyes narrowed as I looked down, John was feeding Vic the potions before carrying him out, and my favorite redhead was glaring at me as she carried an unconscious Jason out of the ring. The announcer was still covering for the misstep, talking up the fight we’d just witnessed and Jason’s clear win.

  What did I do next? I sold another potion, there were still three fights left that night.