by K. F. Breene
Lightning rained down around us, all the strikes missing him but crashing down on various points of me. I could withstand the heat, no problem. The freaking jabs of electricity were not pleasant, though. Like, really not pleasant. I hated it.
“Charity, how lovely of you to join us,” I said, sarcasm ringing through my faux-politeness.
Without even looking in her direction, I shoved Romulus away with a burst of air. Doing that was as fun as kicking in doors. He went tumbling across the ground. These people clearly did not realize that their magic could cut through it if they applied enough force and pressure. Or at least lessen the impact. I thought they might’ve learned it battling demons in the Brink. Clearly they hadn’t been paying enough attention. I didn’t plan to enlighten them until right before they needed to use it against an enemy.
The crowd of people now stretched halfway around the practice field, everyone trying to get a good vantage point. Most of the village had to be out here. The shifters were all with Roger, including Cole, who was sitting at the side. Penny had really done a number on him.
And Darius thought I had an expiration date on my ability to keep people distracted?
I finally swiveled to look at Charity. She stood about a hundred feet away, her hair high on her head in a ponytail, her sword sheathed, and the loose fabric of her top, tied around her middle with multiple bands, lightly moving in the breeze.
“You look hot,” I called. “Like a warrior princess. Oh, wait…you are, right? A princess of the practice yard?”
Even from the distance, I could tell she narrowed her eyes at me. Vampire vision from the bond—it was amazing.
“I didn’t grow up practicing. I grew up surviving.” She turned a little and bowed to Romulus.
“Oh no, not you too. I was actually starting to like you. We were on our way to being friends.”
“Hardly.”
“Yeah. Penny said that too. And now look. Besties.”
“No,” Penny barked. “It’s like a…captive situation.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Whatever works. I bonded a vampire, after all. My decision-making is questionable.”
“Father, may I take this fight?” Charity asked.
Romulus bowed back. “But of course. I will take this time to consult the shifters about—”
“Oh no, no.” I waggled my finger at him, then pointed at Penny. “She just took out a yeti. Try your hand with her. She can borrow magic, remember? That means mine. You want to see what a mage wielding Lucifer’s magic can do? She’s your best bet.”
“You know what?” Penny said, and I could tell she’d reached her threshold. “Yeah, sure. You want to fight, let’s fight.”
“Be careful,” Cole called out.
I didn’t wait to see what happened. I started running straight for Charity, air sword in hand.
Lightning rained down around me, striking my shoulders and head, vibrating down through my body. I threw up an air shield, and that helped diffuse it, but bolts still made it through.
“That can be used on Lucifer,” I said as she started forward, charging toward me as I ran at her. She knew my fighting style.
We clashed in the middle, and demons spun up around us, the really gross kind, distorted in the way they’d probably looked to her on her last journey through the Realm, when she’d had to face them while fighting magical poisoning. Insects crawled across their flesh and poked up through their skin. They belched fire and hobbled.
Her eyes widened for a moment, long enough for me to jab her in the stomach with a dull air blade. It didn’t pierce flesh.
“You’re supposed to lead the battle,” I said as she bent over, losing her breath. “If I don’t make it to the end, someone is going to have to take on Lucifer. It’ll likely be you. You can’t get distracted.”
The demons still moved around us as she straightened up. I stitched in a big black wolf, like Devon, figuring it might help anchor her. The detail in the image was great, but I couldn’t get it to move.
Charity barely spared it a glance. She learned fast; I had to give her that.
She slashed her sword, and I blocked the move and sidestepped to sweep her legs. She jumped over my leg and turned, her blade coming down. I swiveled and threw a punch at her face. She jerked to the side, barely missing the impact, and stepped in the direction she’d turned. I created my sword as her thrust came at me. I blocked it, then shoved at her with air.
She wasn’t like the others. She thought two steps ahead. She’d already seen me use this trick and had clearly been thinking about how to work around it.
She swung her blade in figure eights, chopping through the air, pushing back rather than going down and rolling. Clearly she had been paying attention when fighting demons in the Brink.
“Shh,” I said, even though she wasn’t speaking, and slammed air down on top of her. I wasn’t ready for the other fae to know they could fight my power like that. It would steal all my fun. She bent under the weight, and her electricity started up again, reducing my magic. Which was fine, because it didn’t seem like the other fae had that in their arsenal.
“Where’s your hellfire?” I asked as she pushed her way to standing, sweat beading on her brow. I let her.
“I don’t have the power.”
“Bullshit. You have plenty of power.”
She sent a buzzing ball of light at me. I braced myself, because it would probably be electricity and would hurt something fierce. In a moment, though, it bloomed into fire before enveloping me. I’d already protected my hair and eyebrows from a possible attack, so I ran with it. Literally. I bore down on her covered in flames. It was probably really freaky.
“To make hellfire…” I said, pooling the fire onto the outside of my air blade, letting flames shed as I swung it through the air. She danced away when one of the embers landed on her, burning. “You need a little bit of love…”
I thrust forward. She barely dodged. I was faster than her, but not by much.
“A little bit of lust…”
I kicked out. She blocked with her shin, then danced forward and side-kicked at my chest. I ducked under the attempted kick and spun around, at her back and hacking, catching the edge of her shoulder before she could face me. She let out a gasp. That smarted.
“A little bit of hate…”
Demons descended on the wolf, ripping and tearing. She didn’t so much as flick her eyes in that direction.
“And a little bit of violence. You need them all, in equal doses. You need the balance. The desire and the pain. The love and the loss.”
She danced backward, and I wasn’t expecting it, so I stood there like an idiot for a moment.
Her eyebrows lowered over her intelligent red-brown eyes, and silence descended on the practice field. Bodies crowded in, more than before. It had to be nearly the whole village.
It is good that she has this knowledge, Darius thought, clearly in the area now. I’d been too busy trying not to get skewered to notice his proximity increasing. I half hoped it would come after I was out of these lands, however. You are magnificent, by the way. Your power is unequaled in this village. It is giving them a lot to think about.
Skulking and eavesdropping. Doing what a vampire did.
“Are we breaking? What are we doing?” I asked as Charity put her sword away. “I’m not winded. Are you? Or are you passing me off to Penny?”
“No,” Penny called from somewhere behind me.
“She really does like me, you know.”
Charity leaned forward, thrusting her hands out. A very thin stream of hellfire blasted forth, and I let it wash over me so she’d get a little joy out of it.
“Good,” I commented after it diminished. She panted as though she’d run a mile. “It’ll get easier and your stream will get bigger.”
“I have a lot of anger,” she said after a moment. “A lot of violence.” She paused. “Until Devon, I’d forgotten how to love with my whole heart. How to lust with my whole body. I�
��ve never merged those two halves of myself. Part of me, I think, was afraid of all that anger.”
I grimaced and then worried the grass with my foot. “Yeah, I’m a little uncomfortable with emotional revelations. Your people seem to just hand that stuff out willy-nilly.”
“My father has tried to explain how to make hellfire. My grandmama. They said it comes from within. That I would grow into it with time.”
“It does, typically. Living here, it would take a long time, I imagine. What sort of hate do you have in this place? It’s too nice. The violence is all for show. Like…look. Watch this.”
I rose into the air, above her head, swelled my power, and blasted it out at the people gawking on the sidelines. The air rolled over the ground, gaining speed as I pumped more power into it. It slammed into them like a tidal wave, knocking them down and on top of one another, sending them rolling. I smiled as I watched. It really was a good time.
“And not one of them will get pissed enough to come after me.” I lowered back down. “It would take these people years to accumulate enough anger here to really harness it, I think.”
“Not for long, hopefully,” she murmured, and then bowed to me. “Thank you for teaching me. For joining me. For giving me status.”
I grimaced again and started edging away. “I think we’re good here.”
“You will make it to the last battle. We will make sure of it.”
These people were so positive. They clearly had no foothold in reality.
“Okay, well…”
Darius walked across the grass to meet me, and I had a feeling he was doing it to show his face. To put forth a show of having been there the whole time.
Let’s head out of the public eye, he thought as he neared, looking behind me. They have a lot to unpack.
Penny was getting a bow from a bloodied Romulus.
“Did she win?” I asked as she reciprocated the bow awkwardly and then walked toward us, storm clouds on her face. I was going to get yelled at.
I only saw the last portion of the fight, but yes. She threw a spell over her shoulder as she ran away from him.
“Oh yeah, that’s her signature move. It means incredible pain if you let that spell land.”
He did. He watched your fight with Charity lying down. Tomorrow, while I get into position, I’d ask that you fight Penny out here. Let them see how you can negate her spell weaving. They saw her take down the Second and the yeti, so it’ll have a big impact.
“You’ll have to ask her yourself. She’s done with me.”
“Yes, I am,” Penny said as she stomped by. “I will be spending the evening in my room, thank you very much. Darius, you’re cooking. I need edible food. Charity taught them to make good food the last time she was here, but clearly they didn’t keep it up.”
I want Callie and Dizzy here, as well. Hopefully that’ll distract people from realizing Emery and I are away. They are speaking in hushed tones, even amongst themselves, and have organized a closed trial with sentinels. They are wary of strangers in their midst. I was able to glean that people are angry with the First. They want their say. Even still, I do not know if they’ll tear her off her post.
“You’re taking Emery with you tomorrow? Can’t you just use a spell casing to hide?”
I could, yes. But he doesn’t trust me to relay the information I gather.
“Wise.”
He is absolutely correct, yes, and his knowing that is…frustrating.
I laughed as I collected my weapons and we made our way off the field. Fae were returning to the practice field, giving me a wide berth but facing off with the shifters, now in their animal forms.
“The thing is, though, I might be more valuable to you if I wander around the village and maybe just…kinda…insert myself into the proceedings? I can make a show of Penny anytime, but if I’m fighting, I can’t very well listen to the melons, if you know what I mean.”
Listening to thoughts…yes. How stupid of me to forget. I will still need a distraction so I can slip away undetected, but after that, slip into the trial and find out whatever you can.
Another green light to behave badly. And even though I was a real asshole, I’d still lent Charity status! I was with Steve—this place was amazing!
I wondered if I could get anyone to lose their temper with me…
Tomorrow I would find out.
Seventeen
“This is making me uncomfortable. I want to leave, except there’s a castle full of elves out there who want to capture you and kill Emery, so now my stomach is in knots and there is nothing I can do about it.” Penny wrung her hands beside Reagan, pressed against the wall and trying not to crush the flowers.
“What is the difference between doing this and rummaging around in people’s yards for pet rocks?” Reagan asked as she stood in someone’s window, watching the occupants eat a late breakfast.
“I was inconspicuous. You are not.”
“You were not. You mutter to yourself constantly. If they didn’t see you, they certainly heard you.”
“What are you girls up to?” Steve asked from the edge of the garden. He had clothes on, thank goodness.
“Just trying to make people uncomfortable,” Reagan said, finally peeling away and allowing Penny a sigh of relief. “It’s working, I think, but damn, they’re really good at ignoring things. Which you know, obviously. Why you guys are bent out of shape about it, I don’t know. Look what fun I’m having.”
Steve laughed. “I don’t think normal people get a kick out of being ignored.”
“It’s not being ignored so much as the effort behind it. Like…” She tromped through the flowers. A glance back saw no reaction from the people whose garden she was ruining. “They are conveying the message that we don’t belong in the most passive-aggressive way possible. Doesn’t that tickle your funny bone? Why didn’t you guys just randomly trip people or something when you were here last time? Or barge into their houses and just take a bed if you didn’t like your setup?”
“We were trying to play nice for Charity’s sake. Still are, actually, though Romulus is trying to pave the way for Roger to gain more status. They are defrosting to us a little. Given your…lineage, I would expect they’d do the same for you.”
“Meh.” Batting a hand through the air, she stepped away from the crushed flowers and started down the little pathway further into town. Steve walked with her, and Penny followed, resisting the urge to apologize. “I couldn’t be bothered. I’ve never fit in before. Why should I try now? It’s much more fun trying to pick fights. They will crack first, believe me. Someone will punch me by the end of the day.”
“It’ll be me,” Penny said, lagging behind just a little, hunching for all she was worth. She was so annoyed that Emery was the political one between them. While he got to be invisible and attend the hearing of the First—the warrior fae called it something different, but she couldn’t remember the term—she was stuck following Reagan around, a party to crazy antics that were so against the social norms of this place. “I’ll be the one punching her in the face.”
Reagan nodded with her lips turned down in a duck bill. “Quite possibly.”
“You gave ol’ Cole a good wallop yesterday,” Steve said, falling back just a little so he could talk to Penny.
She shrugged. She’d tried to explain that she hadn’t actually meant the ball-to-his-head situation as an insult, merely as a way to show Reagan up. She’d figured he might understand that. But he’d persisted until it got dangerous, and then she’d had to react. Everyone knew she went overboard when she was reacting. She didn’t know what he was expecting.
“And then you rang the Second’s bell. I don’t think he expected that. He had you on the run.” Steve smiled with a twinkle in his deep blue eyes.
She shrugged again.
“Never get Penny on the run,” Reagan said as she waved at someone coming from the opposite direction. “Your fly is down.” The man didn’t glance over. “Hey, bro, yo
ur dick is hanging out.” He looked straight ahead, realizing, of course, that his robe thing lacked a fly (if he even knew what that was) and his dangly bits wouldn’t hang out if he tried. Which Steve probably had at some point. “Here, I’ll get it.”
Reagan darted toward the fae, bent, and reached between his legs.
That did it.
He jumped back, looked her way with wide eyes, and covered his junk all in one harried movement.
“Ha!” She pointed at him, her finger inches from his face. He blinked under her crazy stare. “Got you. Try harder, bub. Your countrymen are better at this than you.”
He let out a wavering breath and stepped away gingerly, working around her.
“Low,” Steve said with a smile. “Going for a guy’s junk is low.”
“I kicked Roger in the nuts. You think I really care about the rules of polite warfare?”
“This is true.” They kept sauntering along the path as though it were a pleasant stroll and Reagan wasn’t trying to cause havoc and turn the place upside down. The terrifying part was that she hadn’t really gotten going yet. She was supposed to take it easy for a while, then turn up the pressure, then pop into the proceedings and learn what she could from people’s thoughts.
Penny missed the days when they could just go home after Reagan caused a scene. She’d never complain about those instances again.
“Ah, there’s Callie and Dizzy.” Reagan pointed up ahead.
The dual-mages stood in the center of one of four gardens that made up the corners of a small square. In the middle was large shrubbery fashioned after a fountain. It was cool but weird, and it fit this place perfectly.
“Roger was fuming after that fight,” Steve said as Reagan veered toward them, cutting across the path of two people who stopped and looked straight ahead.
She touched one of their noses. “Boop.”