“Call me that again and it’ll be your head up your ass,” I growled.
Emmet smiled. “You want to pick a fight with me?” he laughed.
“No, you brute. I want you to use that big brain of yours in that big head. Think. These are sorcerers we’re talking about. They’re smart. They don’t do things for no reason. They plan ahead. I’m telling you. It’s not over.”
I knew the sorcerer was here somewhere. The demons had been a gift to keep us busy while they tried to destroy the ward.
Emmet crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, well. Where are they? I don’t see any sorcerers… witchling.”
Glowering, I moved to face him—
The sound of wings, very large wings, pulled my attention to the sky above us. And I wished I hadn’t looked.
A speckled gray and red body covered in a leathery hide landed on the bridge with a thundering crash, the reverberations echoing around the bridge and water below. Its enormous wings tipped with claws beat twice before folding back to its massive chest. Great big muscled legs were armed with talons as big as my forearms. Its large head twisted my way, with red, glittering intelligent eyes. It opened its maw revealing yellow, curved fangs. Its tail flicked back and forth like a cat’s.
A dragon.
The demon dragon was the size of a small bus. It was a truly gorgeous beast, and a foolish part of me wished I could ride it.
Silly me because someone was already riding it.
Sitting astride its back was a dark-cloaked figure.
A sorcerer.
21
“The bitch makes quite the entrance,” said Ronin.
My attention snapped to him. “Bitch? You mean that’s a she? A sorceress?”
“Yeah. She’s a she,” he answered, studying her with a dark intensity. The sudden flush on his face was like a great, seething tide of absolute fury. His body tensed as though he were preparing to fling himself at her.
I don’t know why but I was expecting to see a male. I shouldn’t have been surprised Ronin could sense the rider was female. As a half-vampire, he still had all the vampire senses and strengths.
Below her dark cowl were red, glowing eyes. Creepy. But other than that, I couldn’t see her face. She looked to be about my height and build, but it was impossible to guess her age.
A bridle ran over the dragon’s head, equipped with reins wrapped around the sorceress’s hands, and I could see parts of a bit in the dragon’s mouth. The corners of the dragon’s mouth were wet with dark blood, and so were its teeth.
Well then, at least now I could hate her.
The air crackled and thrummed with sudden power, making the hair on my arms rise. Okay, the bitch had magic, lots of it. But so did we.
Though anger throbbed in my veins, I cocked my hip and flashed her one of my selfie smiles. “You came all this way for nothing. You’re not touching that ward,” I called out. “There’re four of us and just one of you. The odds aren’t in your favor.”
Emmet cleared his throat and whispered in my ear. “She has a dragon.”
“So?”
“Dragons breath fire.”
Oh, crap. Right. “Maybe this one doesn’t,” I whispered back. I raised my voice again. “Final warning. Leave. Leave now.”
The sorceress laughed. The dragon demon shifted anxiously, clearly not happy to be here, or maybe it just hated that she had control of it. She yanked hard on the reins, making the dragon growl in pain.
I really hated that sorceress.
Ronin leaned in. “Just so you know… she’s not afraid of you. She’s not afraid of anyone.”
“She should be.” Yeah, I was feeling a little brash and foolish. But this sorceress had destroyed three of the wards, and in doing so, had had two people killed. She was the enemy. I wasn’t about to let her go anywhere near that ward.
But there was still the dragon thing…
The sorceress’s red eyes moved to Ronin, and though I couldn’t see her face, I could tell she was smiling. The bitch was going down.
“So, what’s the plan, witchling?” Emmet stood on my right side with Kaito next to him, her long curved sword gleaming in the light. His voice was a pale shadow of the confidence it had been. He was nervous, and he was making me nervous.
That he asked me what the plan was didn’t bode well either.
I watched the sorceress still sitting on the dragon. “We take her down.” What else was I supposed to say?
“Good plan,” answered Emmet, his fingers clasped around the edge of his cape as though somehow that was giving him courage and a little extra power.
Maybe I should get a cape too? I’d look fabulous in a purple cape. Tights and all…
“What’s their weakness,” I asked the large Unseen witch, my pulse racing. Everyone had a weakness, and that went for sorcerers and sorceresses too.
Emmet shrugged. “No idea.”
My mouth fell open. “Haven’t you faced a sorceress before?”
“Nope. Never. This would be the first time.”
“You guys are supposed to be the experts!” I hissed.
“Demons, half-breeds—that’s what we do. Sorceresses and dragons? We don’t get paid enough for that. That’s not in the contract.”
Dread pounded through me as I stared at the Unseen. “So, what? You’re just going to leave?”
Emmet fell silent, and I knew I wasn’t going to get anything out of him.
“Leave then, you coward,” I growled as I turned to the vampire. “Ronin? What can you tell me about them?”
“I already told you everything I know,” said the vampire after a moment. “I can’t help you with that.”
We stood in silence for another moment, and I had a feeling the sorceress was just sizing us up. I was getting really tired of this.
“Do something,” urged Ronin.
“Yeah, good idea,” agreed Emmet and he gave me a push. “You first.”
I frowned at them. Fine. I was a Davenport witch. My job was to protect the town, and so I would. Besides, she was just sitting there, waiting for me to strike first.
Okay then. Here goes nothing.
“Get ready,” I murmured as I focused. I called to the elements around me, drawing them in and holding them where I needed. Then I raised my right hand, called up my will, and cried, “Accendo!”
A bright fireball shot forward from my hand, straight and true, and hit the sorceress right in the hip. The fire consuming her was rather beautiful, rolling waves of flame cherry red and sunset orange.
“Hey! I got her!” I cried, shocked. I couldn’t believe my luck. The dragon didn’t even react. He just stood there while his mistress burned. But I didn’t care. I wasn’t here for the dragon. Maybe he was glad I’d done it.
“Not bad, witchling.” Emmet slapped one of his beefy hands on my back, sending me forward a step, and I resisted the urge to slap him back.
“We should kill the dragon.” Kaito took a step forward, her dark eyes on the great beast. “Keep the head as a trophy. It’ll look great over my bed.”
My smile vanished. “Leave it be, you psychopath. Look at it. I don’t think it wants to be here. And it did nothing to us.” I don’t know why, but I was feeling protective of this dragon.
“It’s a demon,” pressed Kaito. “I kill demons for a living.”
I moved toward her. “Not this one, you’re not. Not all demons are evil, just like not all mortals are good. You’re here to protect the ward, right? Well, I got the sorceress so you can go home.”
“I wouldn’t get too excited.”
I looked back at Ronin at the note of disappointment in his voice. “What?”
And then I understood.
A low laugh came from the flaming body of the sorceress. Laughing while being burnt alive was a bad sign.
The sorceress lifted her arms and clapped once.
The flames died instantly, sucked into an invisible vacuum, as though they were never there.
Crapo
la.
Here I was going to add sorceress killer on my list of accomplishments.
“That was pathetic,” said the sorceress, her voice dripping with sweet venom. “Witches have no real power. Who gifted you with the earth’s fire, little witch? Your mommy or your daddy?” she mocked, her shoulders rolling.
“I think it was your daddy,” I shot back.
“Nice, one,” muttered Ronin.
The sorceress dipped her head, and then she lowered her cowl.
I flinched and Emmet cursed next to me. “Yikes,” I said, my face pulling into a grimace. “I think you should have kept it on.”
The sorceress was bald, her gray-colored skin a stark contrast to her dark robe. But her skin, the color of a month-old corpse, nor her lack of hair anywhere on her head, nor her creepy red eyes made me cringe. It was her face.
Her flattened features gave her a more bestial appearance, with protruding cheekbones and a nose nearly like that of a cat. She sat smiling as her inhuman features shifted and contorted from something bestial back toward something almost human. It probably made it easier to talk. Her ears were pointy like those of an elf or a fae, but I could see scar tissue around the tips. The crazy bitch had cut them herself.
“Nice ears.” I couldn’t help it. That was all kinds of crazy.
Her face spread into a smile. “You like them?”
“Not really.”
The dragon demon shifted below her, but she never lost her smile. “I came to discuss the terms of your surrender, but you brutally attacked me. I can’t forgive that.”
My body shook from both anger and fear, but my voice came out strong and even. “There are no terms.”
The sorceress waved her hand at me dismissively, and I noticed that she didn’t have any fingernails. “No,” she argued, “because you attacked me.”
I took a firmer stance, though I was trembling inside. “You attacked first by attacking our wards. And let’s not forget the demons. That’s a good enough reason to rid ourselves of you.” Yes, she was way out of my league. My fire magic didn’t even affect her. But I couldn’t run away. If I did, she’d destroy the ward and would be that much closer to conquering the ley lines and our town.
The sorceress’s face twisted into a savage glee that would have made a human run away screaming. “Well then,” she said, leaning forward on her demon steed, “you give me no choice.”
“We’re going to take you out,” I told her, my reflexive smart-ass coming out. Emmet, Kaito, and Ronin were still with me, surprisingly, and I took courage from that. The four of us might stand a chance against miss freako over here.
The sorceress folded her hands on her lap, her no-eyebrows high on her forehead. “Oh, really?” She laughed. “Let’s see… you think you can beat me, when your magic has no effect on me whatsoever… how very droll.”
“I can.” Total lie. “I will.”
The sorceress licked her lips. “This misplaced bravado—or is it stupidity? Don’t know. Don’t care. But it runs in your family. That’s for sure.”
My breath caught. “What?”
She sneered, her face almost serpentine now. “Your aunt thought she could best me too. Thought her White magic could save her.” She threw back her head and let out a jackal laugh. She straightened and added, “It didn’t. She couldn’t. That old bat shouldn’t be practicing magic at her age. I did her a favor.”
Dolores.
My pulse leaped, fueled by anger and fear and desperation. Dread rushed through my body, and I could barely get the words out. “What did you do to her, you sick bitch?”
Did she kill my aunt? Did that mean the ward Dolores was protecting was destroyed? Was this ward the only one left?
My head pounded with questions, I was dizzy, and my stomach was knotting as I tried to wrap my brain around this new information.
“Don’t believe her,” spat Ronin. “She’s a liar. They all are. She’s just trying to throw you off and see you suffer. They love that kind of shit. Pain and suffering is what they do best.”
“What’s this, half-breed?” sneered the sorceress, and she plunged a finger in her ear and wiggled it. “What do you know of The Church of Midnight?” she pulled out her finger from her ear and wiped it on her robe. Lovely.
Ronin turned slowly toward the sorceress. “You make vampires your slaves. You kill them by turning them into monsters, into beasts.”
Her red eyes widened. “Vampires are beasts. We only give a little nudge to their true nature. I need a new companion. Yes, you will do just fine.”
I stepped in front of Ronin. “Over my dead body, freak.”
The sorceress’s red eyes pinned me. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She swung her left leg over, slipped down the dragon’s body, and landed expertly on the bridge floor. She moved to the dragon’s right side, her fingers twitching as though she was expecting some curse.
“It’s time I show you fire.” Her eyes glowed brighter until they were like two red suns. To make matters worse, the dragon’s eyes glowed with the same intensity and color.
I knew what was coming, but I refused to shrink away.
“Tess, let’s go!” Ronin shot out and grabbed my arm, but I yanked it out of his grip.
“No.” I wasn’t going anywhere.
The sorceress’s face warped into a manic glee as she shouted, “Agnur zat ulrit!”
The dragon demon’s head dipped our way.
“Oooh crap.”
The large beast took two steps forward. Then it opened its maw, and a shoot of fire came blasting out, like a giant flame torch.
22
“Incoming!” shouted Emmet as he pitched himself sideways on the bridge, pulling Kaito along with him.
I blinked at the rush of flames coming my way, but I didn’t move.
I was either the bravest witch that ever lived—or the stupidest. Probably the latter.
Everything slowed.
Heat flared on my face and I cried at the last second, “Protego!”
A white, semi-transparent half-sphere burst into existence, lifting over my head and back down into the floor.
And not a second too soon.
The dragon demon’s fire hit the wall of the protection shield, and I stumbled back, the half-sphere moving with me. My world was lit with yellow and orange, and I couldn’t see past the flames. I couldn’t even see the dragon. Everything was fire and heat.
I never let go of my will as power thrummed through me and I staggered. A wave of dizziness hit, but I forced it down. Any second now my half-sphere would collapse, and I would burn.
But it didn’t.
I should have been dead, a pile of ash. And yet I was alive.
And by miracles of all miracles, the sphere was holding.
“I’m not burnt,” came Ronin’s voice next to me and I jumped.
“Ronin?” I stared at his face, red and sweaty and alive. His eyes drifted over the inside of my sphere. He’d stayed with me. He was in my protection half-sphere.
“At another time, being inside this… bubble would have seemed cool,” he shouted, over the roar of dragon fire. “But with the dragon about to barbecue us—not so cool.”
I nodded my head, unable to form words while I was trying to keep my magic flowing, trying to keep us alive. Sweat broke out all over my body, and I could feel it dripping down my back. I gritted my teeth trembling.
Heat thrummed against us, almost singeing the exposed hairs on my head. Greasy black smoke spread over the floor, and it stank. I curled my fingers into fists, straining to keep my focus on the shield and praying I wouldn’t let go. Letting go meant instant death.
The dragon pulled back for a second, and I sighed as the scorching heat left. We were still in a sauna-like bubble, but it was bearable.
Through the semi-transparent half-sphere, I saw the sorceress. She stood next to the dragon demon, her lips moving, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying.
Her expression was that of surprise that w
e were still alive. But something else was there.
Ronin’s shoulder bumped into mine. “You think it’s all fired out?”
As if in answer, there was a deafening roar, and another blast of dragon fire hit my protection shield.
“Not yet.” Grimacing, I took a step back and then another as the dragon’s fire kept pouring over the shield, pushing us back down the bridge. Each time the fire hit the shield, it bounced back and fell to the sides, like water rolling off a beach ball. And each time a chunk of my energy and my power left with it.
I reached for more power, gathered it in, and hoped it would be enough. I blinked and shook my head, trying to rid myself of the dizziness. My lungs burned as they struggled to get enough air.
“How long can you keep this up?” Ronin’s eyes were wide, his face red like he’d suffered a bad sunburn. Half his left eyebrow was singed.
“Not. Long.” I managed to say.
“Okay. Okay.” Ronin made a show of his talons, shifting his feet back as he moved with me. As sharp as they were, his talons wouldn’t do much to the dragon. Ronin wouldn’t even have time to strike the beast before it’d burn him to vampire ash. But I was too exhausted to say anything.
All my will and focus were on keeping this protection half-sphere up. Once it fell, it was all over for us.
The skin on my face and hands burned, and I could feel my hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes singeing. The smell of burnt hair rose all around. Damn. If I was bald after this, I’d be really pissed.
The heat became unbearable, like I’d stuck my head in a hot oven that sucked the air out of my lungs. I could barely breathe. If we didn’t die from the dragon’s fire, we would suffocate.
The sound of chanting broke over the roar of fire. The sorceress was working her magic on the ward.
Fear caused my control to slip, and some of my power fell.
I cried as a slip of the dragon’s fire seeped through my barrier, burning the skin on my face. But I didn’t let go. Adrenaline soared, what I had left of it, and I pushed. Pushed all my energy into the power word, the shield.
Shadow Witch (The Witches of Hollow Cove Book 1) Page 16