And then things got weird.
Marcus’s face rippled, a sort of slithery motion just beneath the surface of his skin that stretched his features strangely, causing a widening of his head and a slight elongation of the jaw. He let out a growl, and when his mouth opened, it revealed carnivore teeth the size of my fingers. There was a flash of black fur, a snarl, a horrible, tearing sound, and the breaking of bones. And then, instead of a man, stood a four-hundred-pound silverback gorilla.
“Well, scratch my balls and call me Beryl,” exclaimed Ronin. “The chief’s freakin’ King Kong!”
I couldn’t help but stare at this magnificent and yet terrifying beast. The muscles on his chest flexed, as he stood on all fours, his front hands resting on his knuckles, a posture I recognized from watching the National Geographic channel. I also knew gorillas were the largest of the primates, and the strongest. Nine times stronger than your average human male, I thought I remembered. You did not want to piss off a silverback gorilla.
Marcus, or rather, the gorilla looked at us with gray, intelligent eyes. Marcus’s eyes. He roared, shaking his head, and I found myself taking a step back. You would have too. But his sudden aggression wasn’t aimed at us. It was a “get your asses ready” kind of roar.
“Yes! Yes!” Samara clapped her hands. “Kill the witch bitch and bring me her head. Ha-ha!”
“No way,” I said, tapping into the ley lines. “I like my head.”
“Me too.” Ronin’s eyes flashed to black, and he wiggled his talons, looking like the vampire version of Edward Scissorhands. “Here they come.”
With my heart in my throat, I watched as Samara’s army circled us until we were surrounded.
Like a storm of wild magic, they exploded into motion.
“For Kirk, Bill, and Taylor!” cried Emmet as he vaulted forward with green flames spewing from his hands. Green light flooded around him as he hit three of the enemy. They fell like logs of flames before they countered.
Kaito ducked, spun, and came up with a great swipe of her sword, slicing off the wrists of about five sorcerers at once. They let out choked screams of pain and shock as blood fountained from their bloody stumps. If the wounds didn’t kill them, the blood loss would.
Kaito caught me staring and flashed me a smile. “No hands. No magic.”
Smart. Though I knew some practitioners didn’t need the use of their hands to conjure magic, but I kept that to myself.
She kicked at the falling bodies, making an opening and scattering them for a moment while gaining some much-needed space.
A flash of dark robes caught my attention to my right, and I twisted around. A group of sorcerers came at me like a great black wave.
The gorilla pounded his fists on the ground, and with a powerful thrust of his back legs, shot forward and rushed to meet the onslaught of robed figures. I heard a cry and the sound of the tearing of flesh. Marcus the gorilla tore at Samara’s subjects with voracious rapidity, his powerful body a killing machine on steroids.
Sparks of red magic hit the gorilla in the chest. He faltered for a moment, and I hissed through my teeth. He shook his head and then pulled back his lips and roared, flinging himself at the sorcerer that had attacked him. In a flash of fur and muscles, the gorilla grabbed the sorcerer and lifted him as though he weighed nothing at all—and split open his torso all the way back to his crooked spine.
So, Marcus was somewhat resistant to magic. Interesting.
He’d also protected me.
The gorilla tossed the dead sorcerer like you would a chicken bone and lunged at another just as four robed figures rushed us.
“Ventum!” I shouted the power word, and a burst of wind slammed into the oncoming sorcerer. I staggered back, not ready for the influx of power from being at the center of all that ley line magic. I gritted my teeth when pain flared as though my insides were aflame.
I looked up in time to see the sorcerer I’d struck flying back. A combination of surprise and relief rushed through me. I hadn’t been entirely sure that my magic would work on the sorcerer, after seeing Samara immune to my fire. Perhaps my magic hadn’t been strong enough when I’d faced her, or maybe her subjects weren’t as strong. But this guy hit a tree trunk at fifty miles per hour. The sound of his head smashing against the tree, similar to the sound of a tomato thrown against the wall, should have made me ill. But I barely registered his death as another came at me.
Female this time, she moved with liquid grace with red magic coiling around her arms like bracelets, the same color of her eyes. She snickered at what she saw on my face, probably a combination of horror and fatigue.
I could still feel the pain of my latest power word coursing through me, though much less. I rolled my shoulders, trying to force myself to relax. It didn’t work.
“Urt ‘Zaq!” she bellowed, flinging her palms at me.
Red rings of fire burst from her outstretched hands, and my face flamed from the heat of her magic.
“Inflitus!” I shouted, flinging my hand as a blast of kinetic force knocked her magic rings away, ten inches from my face.
Anger. Fear. Pain. The tidal surges of my emotions had propelled me, fueled my magic, and I would use it.
I didn’t want to hurt or kill anyone, except for Samara, but this was self-defense. Kill or be killed. And the bitch had tried to kill me. Now I was pissed.
Her lips moved in a dark chant, but I was way ahead of her.
With the power of the ley lines still pounding through me I cried, “Accendo!”
A shoot of fire burst from my hands, high into the air, spinning and spreading orange and red light while catching the sorceress on the left hip.
She let out a cry of fury, and then I heard nothing but the sound of flames burning her robe and her flesh.
I barely had time to catch my breath as another black-robed figure leaped my way.
A flash of brown hair appeared in my line of sight. With a torrent of vampire speed, Ronin pivoted smoothly. With a swipe of his talons, he sliced the sorcerer across the neck.
“No!” gurgled the sorcerer, spitting up blood from his throat. And then he fell.
“Nice,” I said, keeping close and readying myself for the next onslaught of sorcerers. “You been working out? You look good.”
Ronin’s sharp canines flashed in a quick smile. “I don’t need to, baby. It’s called genetics—” He broke off as a sorceress made a mad dash for him, but Ronin was faster. She was down on the ground, her head detached from her body and rolling off to the side, her lips open in her unfinished curse.
I got an occasional glimpse of the whirling masses that were Emmet and Kaito, fighting side by side while a massive gorilla roared. He slammed his body against the sorcerers, picking them up and crushing them together. Their skulls snapped like smashed eggs. Marcus leaned steadily in one direction—to kill the threat. He was impressive to watch, but I didn’t have time for that.
The sounds of battle blared in a combination of cries, shouts, and the boom of magic, making my ears whistle like I was at a rock concert.
I lost sight of Samara under the throng of battle, but I knew she was here somewhere, watching.
More importantly, it looked like we were winning. The Church of Midnight’s army was reduced to a mere ten, and we were all still alive. Maybe luck was finally on our side. We were a mismatched band of misfits, but we were beating her army.
We can do this. I can do this.
Filled with a renewed sense of valor, I dashed into the fight. The power words spilled from my lips as though I’d been using them for years.
I let the magic course through me. My will, the ley lines, all of it. I felt like a different person. I felt strong. I felt like a badass. I felt like a real witch.
The more I pulled on the surrounding magic, the more my body felt it had been in the meat grinder. My insides were assaulted by the pricks of the needles, but I fought it. My pulse throbbed, but I never stopped as another burst of my fire struck a sorcerer. He went down in a
wailing scream of fire and ash.
The pain was still there, throbbing, but my adrenaline covered it nicely.
Then sudden silence hit me. Panting, I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked around.
I stood in a sea of black, lifeless robes. Everywhere I looked, bodies of sorcerers and sorceresses lay crumbled, beheaded, burnt, and very dead.
“Is that all you got?” cried Emmet, raising his fists in the air to some apparent god. “Ha! That was for my friends!”
Kaito was breathing hard next to him, her face covered in blood, but I was sure none of it was hers.
My eyes found the gorilla. He was thrashing his arms from side to side like he wanted to kill more. He raised himself on his two legs and let out a piercing roar that would have had the average Joe pissing himself. He pounded his chest like I’d seen gorillas do so many times in a show of strength, which he did have. Loads of it.
He fell back on all fours. Our eyes met and a strange, warm thrill vibrated in my belly.
“We did it,” said Ronin, pulling my eyes away from the magnificent gorilla. “Don’t everybody thank me at once.” He gave me a brazen smile. “She’s finished. Without her army, she’s done.”
I felt done, but I wasn’t going to tell him. My body shook as the adrenaline rush left me. Truth was, I doubted I had anything left to give, in terms of magic. I knew if I continued to use more of that ley line, it would kill me. Maybe that’s what Samara had meant by my not knowing how to use them. She was right.
Dizzy, I took a deep breath to cover my sudden weakness. It was a miracle I was still standing.
I turned and looked toward the fortress. Samara stood on the same, exact step as before. She hadn’t even moved.
I smiled and gave her a finger wave.
She smiled back.
That was unexpected. “Why is she smiling back?” I asked uncertainly, a sudden chill killing my mood.
The sudden beating of wings brought my attention to the sky.
A gigantic dark shape skimmed over the treetops of Devilwood Thicket. The shape, a speckled gray and red body covered in a leathery hide, soared toward us and landed with a resounding boom right next to the fortress. Its leathery wings unfurled to the length of a small plane.
I swallowed hard. The demon dragon was back.
“That’s why the bitch is smiling,” answered Ronin.
28
It appeared dragons were my lot in life—that and stupid ex-boyfriends.
Crap. This was bad. All the way down the crapper bad. We were all exhausted and our energies spent.
My frown settled down near the bridge of my nose. “Not really playing fair. Are you, Samara?” I said, raising my voice, though I knew it wouldn’t matter.
Her black robes furled around her as she climbed the steps of her fortress. All around her, the energy of the ley lines kept pouring in, sucked through the doorway behind her. When she reached the top platform, she turned. Her eyes closed, seemingly getting a feel of the ley lines, as though they were feeding her their power at the same time, or she was sucking it in. All of it. She staggered like a drunk, though drunk with immeasurable power, and leaned her back against the wall of the fortress. Her arms were splayed like she was trying to hold on.
When she opened her eyes, they were a bright white, gleaming like tiny stars.
Ronin whistled. “Now that’s buckets of crazy.”
“The bitch is trying to absorb the ley lines,” said Emmet, reading my mind. “She wants them all for herself. Their power.”
Fear twisted my gut, and I felt Marcus’s gaze on me. I looked at him. The giant silverback gorilla’s face was pulled back tightly with worry. His gray eyes shone with fear. He was strong, but he knew a dragon was out of his league. It was out of everyone’s league.
I looked back to Emmet. “Can it be done? Can she absorb all the ley lines’ power?”
Emmet pursed his lips. “I don’t know.”
What I did know was that I couldn’t let that happen.
The demon dragon dipped its long head in Samara’s direction, its wings furling against its body as it waited for its master’s instructions.
“Yes! Yes! I take it all!” cried Samara. The ground shuddered under my feet.
There was a flash of white light, the ley lines visible for a mere second as they poured into the fortress and into Samara before disappearing.
And then the weirdness got weirder.
Her face rippled and stretched. Her limbs pulled and shifted, elongating to abnormal lengths. Then, they intertwined with the roots of the fortress walls, twisting and molding into a single entity that looked like a giant squid and some kind of unnamed tree creature with and too many limbs and great, white eyes.
It was as though Samara was slowly becoming a part of the fortress, or the fortress was consuming her. Either way, I nearly threw up. It was the most disturbing thing I’d ever seen in my life. I’d have nightmares for years.
Ronin’s shoulders twitched in sudden tension. “If I wasn’t scared shitless before, I am now.”
My pulse fast, I had no idea what kind of transformation Samara would turn out to be, and I wasn’t stupid enough to wait for it either.
My eyes moved back to the massive dragon. It was watching Samara with narrow, hateful eyes. I knew we couldn’t beat the dragon, but I didn’t want to hurt it either. Unlike the other demons we’d faced, this demon was being controlled. It had no choice but to obey the one who summoned it.
I was weak, maybe, but I wasn’t defeated. Not yet.
And I still had a card to play.
“Emmet,” I called, and waited for the large Unseen to turn around. “You got a protective shield that’ll keep the dragon from burning us? I’ll need a few minutes. Can you do that?”
The redhead grinned. “Yeah. Yeah, I can.”
“Good. Do it,” I told him, swinging my bag around my front and pulling out the green book.
“I’ll need everyone to get a little cozy with each other,” said Emmet as he gestured with his arms. “Like real close.”
Kaito and Marcus both did as they were told and moved in until the five of us were in a tight circle, shoulder-to-shoulder tight.
“What are you going to do with that?” asked Ronin, leaning over.
“Plan B,” I answered, my heart hammering so hard I was sure it would soon drill a hole through my chest and spill on the ground.
There was a sudden scent of animal and musk and I blinked to find the gorilla in my face. Shaking his head, Marcus pulled back his lips, a deep growl thundering in his throat.
I stood my ground. “You can growl all you want, you big monkey… but this is the only way.” I stared at him in challenge. “You can’t speak. Can you?” Not having dealt with many shifters, I had no idea if they could speak in their beast forms. Or was he a wereape? I wasn’t sure of the nomenclature.
The gorilla slammed a fist down on the ground and shook his head again, his eyes narrow and filled with defiance.
That was my answer. “If you don’t want to end up as a gorilla shish-kabob, you will get out of my way.” The book shook in my hands. “I have to try.”
Marcus met my gaze, and his eyes narrowed. For a second I thought he would throw another tantrum. But then he stepped away from me and positioned himself on all fours right in front of me, shielding me with his massive body. It was a nice gesture. Hell, it surprised me, but I doubted his resistance to some magic would work on demon fire.
“Burn them all!” came Samara’s cry, her voice deep and rumbling as though the earth itself had spoken. “Burn them to ashes! I command it! Do it! Do it now!”
The demon dragon turned our way, its red eyes fixed on us.
Ronin shifted nervously. “If you’re going to do something, Tess, now’s the time.”
“Right.” I tossed my bag on the ground and fell to my knees, the big book on my lap as I flipped it open. I blinked the sweat from my eyes, a burst of nausea making the writing on the pages blur.
>
“Watch out!” cried Kaito, and I looked up from the book to see her in a crouched stance, her sword in her hand but staying close to Emmet.
The demon dragon opened its maw revealing yellow, curved fangs, and released a jet of fire.
“Protego!” shouted Emmet, throwing up his hands, his cape billowing behind him.
A green, semi-transparent half-bubble rose around us, just barely encircling us all a split second before the dragon fire hit us.
Boom.
Fire roared as it roiled and billowed, pressing up against the protection bubble. Heat seared my face like I’d placed a hot hair dryer over it. Ronin cursed, Marcus hissed, and for a horrible moment, I thought Emmet’s protection shield wouldn’t hold.
But it did. For the moment.
“Hurry up, witchling!” shouted Emmet, beads of sweat forming on his brow as he held on to his magic, his body shaking with effort.
With trembling fingers, I flipped to the page where I’d put a bookmark earlier and set the book down next to me. Next, I grabbed a small knife from my bag and drew a triangle-shaped sigil in the dirt and wrote the name Imipt in Latin in the center. So far so good. Next, I knew I needed to protect myself, even with Emmet’s protection.
Breathing hard, I carved a circle in the dirt a few inches behind the triangle, wrote five archangel names around it within a coiled serpent, and stepped into it, my body shaking with adrenaline.
“What is that?” shouted Ronin over the blaring roar of dragon fire, pointing to the name.
“Hopefully the dragon’s name,” I shouted back.
Ronin’s eyes widened. “Hopefully?”
I shrugged, sweat pouring down my face. “With the dragon’s true name, I can control it.” Or so it said so in the book. God, I hoped I wasn’t wrong. If I was, we were all burnt toast.
“Best do it now, witchling,” cried Emmet, his face twisted in pain and his fists shaking with controlled force of his will. “I can’t keep holding on. This beast is fierce.”
“It’s a bloody dragon,” cried Ronin. “Not a goddam chipmunk!”
“Hurry up,” shouted Kaito, as though I hadn’t heard Emmet.
Shadow Witch (The Witches of Hollow Cove Book 1) Page 20