Wicked Magic

by Cheyenne McCray

  They were tipped with iron.

  The field smelled of smoke, sweat, burnt sugar, and the demons’ rotten fish stench. And death. It already smelled of death.

  Screams came from the now panicked crowd, but the sounds started to die away. Rhiannon glanced up into the stands. She could see the people closer to the field slump in their seats and wither as white, gray, and black puffs of smoke rushed to the goddess.

  Other people higher up screamed and started to stampede from the building. Some escaped, but others froze in their places like mummies. The stands grew quieter and quieter. Still screams and shouts, but everything was gradually becoming silent.

  Dear Anu, how had Ceithlenn done it so quickly?

  “No!” Heat flushed Rhiannon and she gathered a huge spellfire ball while she bolted toward Ceithlenn. She dug into her gray magic and felt the power of Anu within.

  Rhiannon stopped short as a demon landed in her path.

  She flung the spellfire she was carrying at the Fomorii’s face. The orange demon screeched as its head went up in flames. In the next second a sword sliced the head from the demon’s body. Rhiannon met Keir’s eyes and saw the intense, furious look on his face.

  “Help me!” she shouted over the fighting. “Together we can work toward getting to Ceithlenn.”

  Keir gave a sharp nod. In almost perfect choreography, they fought off one demon and then another and another. Spirit did his part by jumping on the heads of attacking demons and clawing their eyes completely out just long enough for Rhiannon and Keir to do away with the beast.

  Beside them, Jake took a two-fisted stance with his handgun and with a single shot blew a mammoth hole in the chest of a Fomorii, obliterating its heart. No sooner had the beast crumbled to silt than Jake took down another demon.

  One Fomorii came at Jake from his back and Rhiannon flung a spellfire ball that caused its feet to fly out from under it. Jake whirled, planted his foot on the demon’s chest, and fired at its heart with his handgun.

  From behind their ballistic shields, other PSF officers fired off rounds of the special heart-seeking bullets at the Fomorii. Rhiannon saw one officer go down on his back when a demon pounced on his shield. It swiped its fierce claws at the downed man, but another officer shot the demon, wiping it out.

  Other officers used the enhanced tasers, dropping some of the demons long enough to shoot them, or giving a D’Danann warrior time to behead the beast.

  But there were so many Fomorii. As Rhiannon fought she saw PSF officers and D’Danann go down at the claws of demons. Blood splattered from the officers’ bodies, and the D’Danann twinkled and vanished as their souls traveled to Summerland.

  Rhiannon’s heart sickened and her fury magnified. She put more and more of her gray magic into her spellfire balls as her determination grew to take down as many demons as she could.

  Nearby, her Coven sisters flung spellfire balls and used magic ropes to bind and incapacitate demons. The air crackled with the power of their magic and different colors lit up the air like fireworks. Their familiars did what they could, adding strength to their mistresses’ magic.

  Chaos buried his teeth into the flesh of a demon’s leg and Sydney bound the beast with her ropes of magic, allowing another D’Danann to take it out.

  Hannah’s falcon, Banshee, was using the same tactic as Spirit and going for the eyes.

  As planned, all the witches were trying to work their way toward Ceithlenn. But the tremendous number of demons held them back.

  D’Danann charged Ceithlenn from the air, but their swords bounced off some kind of invisible barrier. The D’Danann were the only beings able to get close enough to the goddess, yet they couldn’t touch her.

  A pink-and-black blur sped by Rhiannon, straight toward Ceithlenn.

  “No!” Rhiannon shouted. The Faerie couldn’t take on the goddess alone. “It’s too dangerous, Galia!”

  As soon as she reached the goddess, Galia started flinging pink bolts of lightning. The Faerie’s magic actually pierced Ceithlenn’s shield! The goddess’s clothing burned every place a bolt struck and the leather seemed to melt against her skin. Galia’s magic even tore holes in Ceithlenn’s wings.

  A look of intense fury crossed Ceithlenn’s face. For a moment, souls stopped making their way toward her. In a movement so fast Rhiannon almost didn’t see it, the goddess swung her hand. She slammed her magic at Galia, knocking the Faerie from the air.

  Galia dropped to the ground and didn’t move.

  “Galia!” Fear followed by fury for her little friend rose up in Rhiannon’s throat. She put so much of her gray magic in the next spellfire ball she gathered, she nearly blew up the closest demon’s head before Keir could lop it off.

  Spirit bounded toward Galia, arched his back, and took a protective stance over the Faerie’s little body.

  From the air, D’Danann sliced and hacked at demons with their swords. Metal clanked against the iron-tipped claws of the Fomorii. Blood splattered the field as D’Danann swords made contact with demon necks and chests.

  PSF officers and D’Danann were covered with blood, too, some their own. Claw marks grazed arms, ripped through clothing. The officers’ bodies were protected by their armor and helmets, but it wasn’t enough. Flesh was flayed open and throats torn out.

  There were so many demons. Every time one Fomorii dropped it was replaced by another.

  And the people in the stands—no more screaming. Nothing. They were frozen by the power of Ceithlenn’s magic and she quickly sucked the souls from one human after another.

  Rhiannon flung spellfire after spellfire and Keir swung and sliced with his sword. Demon blood coated Rhiannon’s and Keir’s shirts and streaked their faces.

  When Rhiannon missed the next demon, she had to drop and roll away from the beast as it lunged for her. Keir took the demon out and Rhiannon scrambled to her feet. Her breathing had become harsh and ragged and her arms sore from throwing spellfire balls. But the adrenaline pumping through her kept her going.

  After battling two more demons, another beast got close enough to rake its claws across her chest, ripping her shirt. Thank Anu, the Kevlar vest protected her. Keir gave a mighty roar and lunged for the demon. He cut its heart out with a skillful movement.

  But another demon came up from behind Keir and gouged its iron-tipped claws down his bare arm. Blood flowed. Rhiannon screamed and flung spellfire. Keir whirled and cut his sword through the air, decapitating the demon.

  Dear Anu, don’t let that wound have enough iron in it to hurt Keir! Her heart nearly crumbled at the thought and she barely avoided dodging the claws of the next demon.

  While she continued to fight, Rhiannon noticed that Sydney and Hannah had each teamed up with a D’Danann warrior. They each used their magic ropes to bring a demon down. The D’Danann finished the Fomorii off, turning them into piles of silt.

  Silver worked with Hawk and Copper with Tiernan. Silver not only had her magic, but used a pair of silver stiletto daggers as she fought. She had developed a knack for flipping the knives through the air and into a Fomorii’s heart at the same time she flung a spellfire ball. The knives didn’t kill the demons because they didn’t destroy their hearts, but it slowed them down.

  Copper had been the lead pitcher on the California Bears team at U. C. Berkeley during her undergrad years. Despite her broken ankle, she maneuvered easily and fired off one spellfire ball after another with nearly perfect precision.

  Alyssa bit her lower lip as she flung spellfire balls and one of the D’Danann stayed by her side. When a Fomorii got too close, she would throw up a spellshield, protecting herself from attack. But Rhiannon saw Alyssa’s clothing had been shredded and her arm was bleeding.

  Rhiannon glanced toward the pitcher’s mound after she took down another Fomorii.

  Ceithlenn was still drawing souls from the crowded stadium. The goddess radiated power. The cloudy wisps came faster and faster to her, and her body soaked them in like a sponge.


  A sick feeling weighted Rhiannon’s belly, almost driving her to her knees. All those people. All those people! Men, women, children.

  Everyone.

  Rhiannon clenched her teeth. She threw everything she had into fighting the demons harder.

  She and her Coven sisters had to get to Ceithlenn.

  Keir roared, fury giving him even more strength.

  His fear for Rhiannon mingled with admiration for the way she fought. She was a true warrior in every sense of the word.

  Sweat streaked her cheeks, along with Fomorii blood. Her black cap had fallen off and her short auburn hair was wild about her face, her green eyes burning with fire.

  Keir’s fellow warriors fought from the air, using their advantage of speed and flight. Rhona and Tegan attacked Ceithlenn’s shield time after time, as did Kirra and Sheridan. When they struck her shield the warriors were flung backward and had to catch themselves in mid-flight to keep from crashing to the ground. Yet they went after Ceithlenn again and again.

  So many Fomorii and so few of the D’Danann, witches, and PSF. Godsdamn the Chieftains for not sending more aid!

  When he saw two of his comrades go down, along with PSF officers, Keir’s rage magnified and his strokes grew harder and faster.

  Keir lopped off another demon’s head, making way for yet more Fomorii. He ground his teeth and jabbed at the next demon. Whatever the case, Keir and their team would win this battle against the Fomorii.

  Ceithlenn was another concern altogether.

  Rhiannon missed a demon with her spellfire ball and the Fomorii lunged for her. She whirled, turning her back on it and dropping. Instead of catching her in her face with its claws, it raked its nails across the body armor on Rhiannon’s back as it dove for her. The demon gripped her clothing in its fist.

  As the Fomorii jerked Rhiannon backward, its jaws set to bite her neck, Rhiannon screamed.

  Keir roared and chopped off the demon’s hand, releasing Rhiannon. In another powerful swing, Keir beheaded the beast.

  His rage grew beyond the heat of fire from a forge. His anger was insurmountable as he witnessed more PSF officers dropping to the grassy field, either lifeless or injured. And he felt it in his heart each time a D’Danann went down at the claws of a demon and moved on to Summerland. At least three of his warriors had passed.

  With a quick glance at Ceithlenn, Keir saw her satisfied expression as she sucked in more and more souls. The screams and noise from the stadium had quieted as she took life after life.

  How were they going to destroy such a powerful and evil goddess?

  Despite the fact they had outnumbered the forces of good at the beginning, the Fomorii ranks began to thin. Countless piles of silt littered the field along with the bodies of PSF officers.

  After Keir beheaded another demon and another, he realized the tide had turned.

  Their team had destroyed most of the Fomorii.

  He and Rhiannon looked at each other. He gave a sharp nod, and in silent agreement they both started toward Ceithlenn. Keir from the air, Rhiannon on foot. The other witches and their familiars began flowing toward the goddess, too, while still fighting.

  The ground shook.

  Rhiannon cried out as she fell and landed on her backside.

  Great pounding noises, like monstrous footsteps, sounded on the field.

  Keir whirled in the air. Two giants headed toward them. Both swinging great spiked clubs.

  One of the creatures was hideous and blue, with horns sprouting from its forehead. The monster roared and swung its club back and forth like a great elephant’s tusk. Its arms were long enough to hang down to the grassy field.

  The other monster was just as revolting, including the massive horns—but almost human looking. Its skin was tanned and it had long, lank black hair. But what captured Keir’s attention was the large, glowing crimson eye hanging from a chain around its neck.

  Balor’s eye.

  Keir knew it as sure as his heart beat in his chest.

  Silver and Rhiannon had visioned these two giants—Junga and Darkwolf, distorted by Ceithlenn’s magic.

  The giants charged them, swinging their spiked clubs in huge arcs.

  PSF officers regrouped behind their shields and fired rounds of ammunition at the beasts.

  The bullets bounced off the monsters’ flesh. No matter where the bullets hit, they did not harm the beasts. Even a shot to an eye did nothing, as if the beasts were made of impenetrable steel.

  Then the monsters were upon the PSF.

  Officers screamed as the clubs slammed into their shields. The clubs knocked the men and women into the air like fall leaves blown from a tree in a sharp gust of wind.

  Zephyr, Copper’s honeybee familiar, zipped through the air toward the human-like monster and attacked. The giant roared and brought his free hand to his face. The bee was actually hurting the giant! Because he was magical, the honeybee never lost his stinger and his sting was more potent than a common bee.

  From where he hovered in the air, Keir assessed the rest of the situation. The witches were binding the last of the Fomorii with their magic, or incapacitating them with spellfire and their familiars helped them.

  Ceithlenn still drew in souls. The more she absorbed, the more powerfully she glowed. She even seemed to grow taller, her wings wider.

  His heart lurched when he saw the tiny body of Galia just feet from Ceithlenn, guarded by Spirit. Keir growled. He would get his revenge on the goddess bitch.

  The D’Danann trying to get through Ceithlenn’s magical shield continued to fight to no avail, but they had not given up. They attacked over and over again, looking for some spot of weakness in her shield.

  “Take out the monsters!” Keir shouted to his fellow warriors.

  He and most of the D’Danann charged the creatures that continued to bash their clubs into anyone within reach.

  The D’Danann flew through the air and zeroed in on the monsters. Keir aimed his sword at the beast that looked somewhat like a man—only the monster was four times the height, ten times the width, and malformed. Its face was red and swollen in spots, no doubt from the bee stings.

  The beast roared and swung its club up in the air at Keir. He dodged and went for the giant’s throat with his sword.

  Instead of piercing the monster’s flesh, Keir’s sword hit what felt like cold iron. The impact and force of the rebound flung him back. He caught himself and barely dodged the spiked club again as the beast cried out. It was almost a human cry.

  With a flap of his wings, Keir charged forward. Other D’Danann helped to fight the man-like monster, while additional warriors battled the blue giant.

  The D’Danann only served to distract the beasts from hurting the rest of the humans and witches. The monsters swatted at the D’Danann like flies, using their great clubs. Three times the monsters caught warriors with their clubs.

  Keir was almost blinded by rage. More than two thousand years of training made keeping his focus and fighting as natural as breathing.

  Nothing the D’Danann did seemed to hurt the monsters in any way. Not a scratch, not a pierce, not a drop of blood. They did nothing but incite the monsters into a more intense frenzy. Only the honeybee had any kind of effect. It was obvious the giant was distracted and angered by the stings.

  His frustration mounting, Keir struggled to come up with some solution to harm the monsters, to destroy them. They had to find a way to stop them. The monsters were as invincible as Ceithlenn appeared to be.

  From out of nowhere, magical ropes snaked around the ankles of the giants.

  Keir jerked his attention to see the witches working together to take down the monsters. All seven witches used their ropes of magic to bind the giants from head to toe. Their ropes wound around and around the monsters.

  Rhiannon’s face was a mask of both fury and concentration as she held on to a gold magical rope that continued to loop around the blue giant. Silver and Copper aided her, while the other four witch
es tackled the man-like monster.

  Because its entire body was bound by the ropes, the blue monster dropped its club with a shriek and a tremendous crash. It lost its balance and fell onto its back, striking its head on the ground. The earth thundered from the force of the giant’s fall, as though an earthquake had struck. The monster struggled against its bonds. It screamed and shrieked and fought the magical ropes.

  A few moments later, the other giant fell forward, landing on its chest and covering the great crimson eye. The witches stumbled backward and three of them fell as another quake rocked the ground. The monster roared and tried to get out of its bonds.

  Keir took a quick glance at the goddess.

  Ceithlenn had lowered her wings and her arms.

  She smiled and the very air around her began to pulsate.

  All attention turned to Ceithlenn.

  Keir’s heart thrummed harder. He brushed sweat and blood from his face as he stared at the goddess.

  Something was about to happen.

  Whatever it was, Keir had no doubt it could mean nothing but more devastation.

  Chapter 33

  Ceithlenn took a deep breath of sweat and blood, human and Fomorii. She smiled, her body filled with so much heat that the flames of her hair crackled and hissed. This was it. This was the moment she would finally bring her lover, her husband, back from exile.

  It didn’t matter that all the Fomorii around her had been destroyed—she had only brought a fraction of her army. Once Balor was here, once the eye was taken from around Darkwolf’s throat, Balor would kill the witches and D’Danann with the power of his eye. One look from him and each victim would turn to ash.

  Just as the witches finished binding Darkwolf and Junga, Ceithlenn had taken almost every soul in the stadium. The richness of the souls ran through her veins, pounded in her heart, throbbed in her body. The magic built up within her was so heady she shook with it. She had never felt so invincible, so immortal.