by Anna Santos
“Jessica, what do they want with you?” Anna questioned while Shane touched his mark with his fingers.
“You will be immune to enchantments. Witches can no longer harm you,” I explained. He went to look at the rune in the mirror. In a couple of minutes, it would disappear from his neck, camouflaged by his own skin. “They want me because I took something they had no right to have in their possession,” I explained to Anna.
“And what did you steal?” she asked, looking out the windows of the cabin. “They are here,” she whispered then flashed over to the front door. Shane went after her and both slipped out into the scary night. I didn’t know what dangers were waiting for them outside. I just knew I wouldn’t let them face them alone. So, at my normal speed, I cat-walked to the door.
***
The silver moon shone over the entrance of the house, illuminating the scene. Shane and Anna stood next to each other, staring at the eight dark figures before them in a line, holding swords and daggers. They looked like ninjas. Their eyes were the only thing visible under their clothes. But, judging by the shapes of their bodies, they were all unmistakably women. The weird suits, the covered faces—that signified the vampire king’s personal death squad. He had called the big guns on me.
Anna swung the swords in her hands and threw one of them to Shane. He would need it. The gun by itself wouldn’t be enough. I also needed to protect myself.
“You are trespassing,” Shane said after a confusing, quiet moment when everybody stared at everybody else, as though measuring their strengths and making strategies.
“Give us the rogue witch,” one of the masked girls said, the one in the middle, probably the leader.
“Rogue my ass,” I protested, putting my hands on my hips.
Who were they calling rogue? I could be playing solo and not have a coven or a king to lick boots and give my services, but I was no rogue witch. I was my own person, and I lived my own life. Democracy and freedom of choice—that was what those medieval kings needed to learn.
“You are trespassing,” Shane repeated. “I will not warn you again. If you don’t leave, we will make you leave.”
“We will not leave without the witch,” the girl assured, and to make her point, she sped to him to attack him with a dagger.
Shane defended himself easily. It was almost unreal the way he predicted her movements. He moved around her like he was playing with her then disarmed the girl and made her backflip and fall hard on the floor.
Anna didn’t even move an inch. Those two were acting like a team. I was so proud of them! I would have clapped if the other seven intruders didn’t rush to help their leader and attack my friends. The sound of steel clanked and echoed in the night.
They were too fast for me to understand what the hell was going on. I could hear the snarls and the pained cries. I could catch glimpses of bodies moving fast, attacking each other, but I was a witch. I didn’t have super powers! Well, I kind of did have superpowers. The magical kind. So I never complained. I actually liked being a witch. But the ability to super-speed and follow fast movements with my vision wasn’t one of my powers. Still, I could easily differentiate Anna and Shane from the dark, red-masked girls. They defended themselves pretty well. The girls were vampires, though probably turned vampires and not the original kind. They shouldn’t be a problem for Anna and Shane, or even for me, but I was tired and had used too much of my magic lately.
Suddenly, Anna rolled on the floor, and Shane was kicked back. The girls were using their teamwork to break their defense mode. Two of the girls jumped to try and grab me. Anna jumped and sped in front of me. She swung her sword and shoved against them, pushing them back. Shane was back beside her, snarling, and I saw how his muscles flexed, as if he was about to shift into a wolf and shred the enemies to pieces.
I was tired, but I was not dead. I moved my neck in circles, opened my hands, and stretched my muscles. Breathing deep, I released my fire from my wrists and made fire whips that moved on my hands like live snakes. It was a pretty cool trick. I liked to be original that way. Any witch could make flame orbs and throw them randomly. Me, I would rather have fire whips and use them to beat up and burn my opponents. Channeling the magical power I still had, I pushed forward a wall of kinetic power that threw the girls across the air; they landed hard on the dusty road. Then I ran into the midst of my pursuers and swirled around, making the whips burn them, which forced them to retreat, screaming and growling as they fell back.
“Go back to the house. I got this,” I said to Anna, who gave me a look like she was unsure what I was planning. “Get Shane inside!”
I was serious. She knew when I was playing and when I was not. I was not playing. I wanted this day to end. I wanted to go to sleep and dream of my mate again. I needed to feel safe. I needed to punish that arrogant and deceitful king. I needed to show them that I was not kidding, that I was dangerous and would burn them to ashes!
Anna pushed Shane to safety. I didn’t want to hurt them with my powers. Meanwhile, my eyes didn’t leave my opponents as we walked in circles. They were angry and wanted to drain and punish me for killing the others whom the king had sent before them, probably their friends. I couldn’t have cared less.
“See you all in hell,” I muttered and called forth all my strength, all my ancestral and powerful witch legacy.
My hair danced in the air as if gravity had ceased to exist. My hands formed beams of fire as, around me, all the air was pulled out. The pressure made the attackers fall back on their asses and hit the ground, making a painful noise. I was ready to burst into flames and take those vampires on a single trip to hell. But then I saw him: the tall blond man. He was not far from us. Backing him up was a group of werewolves and Kevin. Kevin was there, staring at me with widened eyes. He had never seen my full power before. Maybe he had just never seen me mad. And next to him was the tall, blue-eyed man. He had a surprised look on his face and seemed fascinated by my actions.
He looked so—familiar. He looked…
The screams made me wake from my thoughts and stare at the girls, who were trying to run away from my glowing fire shield as it grew, almost reaching their side. It would burn like pure liquid silver on their flesh, if the fire touched them. Some had already been touched, which explained why they were screaming in pain. And did I mention that this fire was also magnetic? They couldn’t run far or fast enough, even if they’d wanted to. The shield pulled them to it, ready to make them burst into small pieces of flying ash like paper succumbing to flames.
“Jessica! Stand down!” Anna screamed.
I could understand that a vortex had been made. The wind was everywhere, making a lot of noise, but I was able to hear Anna yelling and warning me about the danger. I needed to stand down. Calm the flames. Conceal my raw power. Easy to desire, but hard to accomplish. Staring at the tall blond man, however, did help to calm me down.
Finally, everything stopped. The girls were grabbed by the werewolves, and I felt like I was floating as I tried to walk to the man who was walking toward me. My vision tends to get all blurry when I am in a trance state, but he reminded me a lot much of my king…
“Who are you?” he asked as he drew near me.
I just had time to smile at him and ask, “Are you my mate?” And then I blacked out.
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