Infernal Ties

by Holly Evans

  I turned my attention on them. Pain slowed me down and made my movements clumsier. They were almost on Quin when I leapt over the candles and slit the closest’s throat. I tackled the other to the ground. She thrashed beneath me. I felt her hands moving behind me as she was trying to perform some magic. My stiletto slipped from my grasp and skittered across the floor.

  A brightly coloured curse collided with my chest, almost knocking me off the witch. They were regrouping. I punched the witch in the bridge of the nose with everything I had. Her eyes fluttered closed. A scream cut through the air; Quin coughed and called out my name. My attention snapped to him. He’d almost managed to free himself. Red paint marked his bare chest, but he seemed to be unharmed. That wasn’t going to stop me from killing the bitches. I would make an example of them.

  A pair of slender hands wrapped around my throat from behind. I mule-kicked. My foot connected with something hard that crunched. The hands left. I didn’t bother to check what had happened to her. Quin stood slowly. I rushed over to him and checked him over quickly. He was ok. He was standing by himself, and his blood seemed to be on the inside.

  I turned and put myself between him and the remaining witches, who insisted on throwing curses and fireballs at us. My throwing knives were in the bodies of the dead witches; I hadn’t been thinking enough to retrieve them. My stiletto was on the floor behind me. I started throwing candles. It wasn’t the best tactical decision I’d ever made, but it stopped the flow of curses for a brief moment at least.

  Quin was behind me, I could feel him. He pressed the hilt of my knife into my hand just as I was preparing to throw a bowl at the largest of the witches.

  “Where’s the exit?” I hissed at him.

  He pointed to the door that was recessed into the wall on the far corner. Another fireball almost struck me. I ducked to the side, but was distracted when a sharp pain clawed through my wrist. I fell to the floor. Quin landed with a thud behind me. We were not going to be beaten that easily.

  I pushed myself up to my knees and threw my final knife at the witch who was waving her hands. She gurgled and dropped, leaving us with one. Blood dripped down my hands, I heard it land in one of the bowls. I froze and waited for something to happen. The witch laughed at us, she threw her head back and cackled. It crackled and sounded oddly like a log fire.

  Pain was clouding my thoughts; we were down to one witch, but I wasn’t sure I could defend Quin any longer. The witch’s eyes darkened; her face turned almost manic. She began throwing black shards of something at us. I yelped and looked around for somewhere to hide. Throwing bowls wasn’t going to resolve that problem. Two shards struck home. The pain engulfed me. My chest constricted. I swallowed hard and tried to remain conscious; I was not going to lose.

  The witch stopped throwing shards at us and closed her eyes. She began moving her hands frantically while her mouth twitched. The sound of cracking, splintering wood made her falter for a second. I gasped for air and looked for the source. Quin had broken the chair; he held the legs up triumphantly. Each leg had been broken with a vicious spike on the end. He tossed one at me before he slowly circled around the witch. Even in the worst situations, he kept his head.

  Her hands slowed and her words became more audible. The time for caution had passed. I half ran, half stumbled towards her while Quin approached from behind. The air was thick. It was difficult to breathe. Every movement felt like I was fighting quicksand. The closer I got, the more effort I had to put into moving my legs. My body screamed at me to stop. To allow my legs to crumple and give in to sweet darkness.

  We didn’t give in. Quin seemed to be moving quicker than me. He was within a couple of feet when I put everything I had into a final lunge. We plunged the legs into her chest and back. A deafening screech filled the air. Everything went bright white before it dropped to pitch black. I collapsed to my knees and covered my head, waiting for it to be over. We were so close.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The silence was almost as deafening as the scream had been. The pain was almost unbearable. Footsteps approached me; I tensed and waited for the final blow.

  “Evie, it’s ok,” Quin said softly.

  I opened my eyes and saw him crouched in front of me, his hair hanging half in his eyes. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. My twin was ok. My infuriating Quin was ok. I’d done it.

  “Don’t do that to me!” I said, tears streamed down my face.

  “Can’t breathe, sis,” he choked out.

  I pulled back, keeping a firm hold on his upper arms. “Are you ok? What did they do?”

  I searched his face for any signs of trauma or injury.

  He gave a little shrug and smile. “I lived in the lap of luxury, they fed me three-course meals, I slept in the comfiest bed I’ve ever had. It was all great until this morning when they started talking about draining my blood,” he said.

  I went to hug him again, but he held me back. “I missed you, but I like breathing.”

  I brushed away my tears and laughed.

  “Only you would get kidnapped and treated like royalty,” I said.

  He grinned at me. “What can I say, it’s a gift.”

  It was a few minutes before my legs would accept my weight. I felt weak, but it didn’t matter: Quin was back. My injuries would heal. He helped me limp out of the building and head home. I poked him in the ribs.

  “Don’t do that to me again, I don’t want you thinking that getting kidnapped is some holiday or something,” I said sternly.

  He laughed.

  “Don’t worry, Evie, I know you couldn’t survive without me,” he said.

  I chewed on my bottom lip and looked away. He squeezed me close to me him.

  “I’d be lost without you, too,” he said softly.

  “So er… I cut a deal with Kadrix, that elf alchemist you hang out with…” I said.

  His step faltered for a second.

  “Oh?” he said.

  “Yea. He helped me out in return for a kiss. From you,” I said.

  He tensed. I looked at him to find him bright red.

  “Sorry?” I said.

  He took a deep breath and relaxed with a soft laugh. “You do know how to cause trouble, Evie.”

  End Note.

  I really hope that you enjoyed this book. If you want to get in touch, please feel free to do so at authorhollyevans@gmail.com

  To see what trouble Evie gets into next get your copy of Infernal Bonds (book 2) on Amazon here.

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