by D. N. Hoxa
“I’ll borrow this if you don’t mind,” he said to the body. I looked to the side to see that the sorcerer and the wizard were both dead, their throats bitten almost all the way, and Emanuel licked his bloody fur around his big mouth, coming closer to us.
It was now or never.
“Hey, Carter, don’t kill the chick in leather,” I said and raised my hands once more. This time, nothing was going to stop me from breaking that ward.
“Really? But there’s nobody else left.” Carter sounded disappointed.
I began to chant the spell, aiming it at the back of the witch’s head. I could see Helen from the corner of my eye, and she was slowly moving toward us.
“Oh, oh. Here she comes,” Carter said, and I heard the grin in his voice. Wasn’t he going to turn?
My knees shook again as the end of the spell neared. I didn’t worry about Helen—both Carter and Emanuel were going to keep her off me long enough, but I did worry about me. About my magic. It came harder to me this time, stretching under my skin lazily, like it didn’t want to get out. That’s what it always did when I overtired myself and used up too much of it in such a little time.
I pushed through as Helen approached, and when she raised her sword, Carter stepped in front of her.
“I’m told not to kill you, but I’m not much of a rule-follower, to be honest,” he said to Helen, but she grinned.
“Aren’t you a cute little puppy,” she said, then attacked him with her sword. It was so fast I almost didn’t see it. Carter must have because his own sword met hers halfway.
I forced the last words of the spell out of my lips and braced myself for when the magic left me. It pushed my arms back and I almost lost my balance. My hands glowed purple, all the way to my wrists, and the purple light that hit the ward took with it almost all of my strength.
It was all I could do not to kneel in the mud when the ward broke. I couldn’t hear it this time, not over the sound of swords clashing on one side and Emanuel growling on the other—but the witch did.
I took a step back when she moved, like she’d just realized that she was still alive. The man sitting in front of her fell to the side, half his face buried in the mud.
Almost over, I reminded myself. I just had to push through for a little while longer.
I blinked my eyes fast, trying to clear my view as the witch stood up, her black dress dripping mud. She moved like time was slower for her, and she took her sweet time to turn around, which suited me. Any second I had to rest was precious.
When she finally faced me and I saw her eyes, I realized that almost over didn’t mean what I thought it meant just a second ago.
Diane Devlin was skinny and tall, taller than me. Her red hair was cut short, giving her already angular face even more sharpness. Her eyes were blue, a dark blue that reminded you of oceans during a storm, with just enough color to stop you from believing it was black. The gleaming in them was what made me realize that there was going to be a fight with her, too. Carter and Helen were still going at it and Emanuel was trying to help, but this woman was all mine.
She raised her hands up.
I explored my options. Did I have time to raise a ward? Did I even want to?
I didn’t. One more spell and I feared I wasn’t going to be able to get back up fast enough. Screw it. Grabbing both my daggers from my pocket, I ran to her. Her lips barely moved as she chanted. They looked bruised, almost completely blue, but she was chanting. I was sure I’d be fast enough to get to her before she finished.
I was wrong.
The spell left her hands, perfectly invisible to the eye, but not to the body. I felt the heat of it on my skin before it hit me—and Carter and Emanuel, and threw us all in the air. Breathing was not possible. My ribs felt broken, my heart trapped in a mess of broken bones. I hit something hard with the back of my head, and my vision went dark for what felt like an eternity.
It almost felt like somebody was calling out my name, but I couldn’t be sure. The echo of a voice took over my mind, but I didn’t recognize it. I forced my eyes to open even though everything hurt. If my ribs were really broken, I was screwed, but the good news was, I was still breathing. As long as I was breathing, I’d find a way.
My eyes opened lazily, and the view in front of me almost took me off guard as if I’d forgotten where I was just a second ago. Carter and Emanuel were by my sides, both motionless. Ahead, Helen stood with a smile on her face by the redheaded witch, and she had one hand turned to the plant and the other toward us.
Fuck, she was strong. Whatever spell she’d used couldn’t be legal, but then again, most of mine probably weren’t, either. I’m not sure—I never checked. Putting my hands against the wall behind me, I pushed myself to my feet. It was agony. My muscles screamed and every instinct I had wanted me to stand down, just surrender to the pain, but this wasn’t over. In fact, it had gone far enough.
The witch slowly turned her head and her eyes met mine. If she thought she was done with me, she was definitely in for a surprise. I took a step forward just to test my balance. When I didn’t fall, I took another. The words of the same spell I’d used in the Shade when fighting Amina—a.k.a. Damian’s ex—rushed out of my lips. It was going to send everybody in this room on their asses. Carter and Emanuel, even Nikola, were going to be in pain, but it would pass. And more importantly, it would give me a few precious seconds to cut the red head of the witch right off.
Putting my daggers in my pocket, I raised my glowing hands toward her. She kept her eyes on me, her blue lips moving, too, just as fast as mine. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, giving me some relief from the pain. Which one of us was going to finish first?
I never got to find out.
A string of thin rope wrapped around both my wrists at the same time, and pulled my hands together. I screamed—not because I was suddenly tied up, but the rope burned. It burned like it was on fire, when it wasn’t, not that I could see. It was just plain, brown rope, and it was coming from Helen’s hands. For once, she’d put her sword in her sheath, and now that she had me tied up, she pulled. I resisted but my sneakers slipped in the mud. What the hell was that thing? God, it stung. My skin was melting underneath it.
Gritting my teeth, I began to chant again, a new spell, a faster spell, just to get her off me.
A sword blinked into existence before my eyes and it cut through the rope an inch over my fingers. A hand wrapped around my arm and Damian pulled me back, his eyes focused on Helen.
“I told you to stay away, Damian,” Helen said as I pried the rope from my burning wrists quickly. Damn it, my skin was burned all around them. The raw red skin smelled nasty, and it pissed me off. Burns weren’t something you just healed from. Chances were it was going to leave a mark. A slight mark, but I’d be able to see it.
That bitch.
Something touched the back of my leg, and I felt Kit climbing up my body, squeaking in panic.
Wait a minute. If Damian was here, and Kit was here, that meant…
I turned around and saw Malin right by the glowing yellow light. Carter and Emanuel had already come to their senses, and they were trying to get up. Goddamn it.
I raised my finger at her. “Stay there!”
She ignored me completely and went to help Carter to his feet.
“It’s over, Helen,” Damian was saying. “This is as far as it goes.”
Kit pulled at my earlobe, trying to get my attention, sniffing my skin to make sure I was okay. “That witch needs to die,” I said, pointing my finger at the redhead, who was still looking at me. She stretched her lips, and I think it was supposed to be a smile. “Be a good boy and go pull her eyes out, Kit.” I kissed the top of Kit’s head as she watched. “Wait for my mark,” I whispered in his ear, and as soon as he jumped off me, I took off after the witch.
“What the hell is the matter with you? Do you want to die?” Helen said to Damian, and judging by the sound of her voice, she was very pissed off.
I
expected the witch to attack, so I moved to the sides with every step I took, hoping she would miss. Luckily, she didn’t look like she was chanting at me. Her focus was on the plant that had grown another couple inches while I fought for it—and my life.
“I want you to live. Nikola needs you, Helen,” Damian said, and I jumped at the witch, daggers raised.
I thought I had her. I was so sure I was going to cut her face off, but then she moved. She ducked and spun and her muddy boot slammed on the side of my head, making me feel like she’d cut my ear off completely. Warm blood ran down my neck even before I hit the ground. Magic whooshed past me, invisible but powerful, and slammed onto the witch’s side, pushing her to the side. I only had a second to look back and see Malin with her arms raised before I forced myself to stand up. My daggers had slipped from my hands so I grabbed them again and straightened as the room swam in front of my eyes.
That had been very stupid of me. I’d done the one thing everybody else always did with me: I’d underestimated her. Every inch of my body hurt and my magic was slow, but it was still there. It would do my bidding for one last time before this was over. One time. I only had one chance to get it right.
Throwing one of my daggers on the floor, I charged for the witch again, but this time, I wasn’t alone. Another invisible spell hit her from the side, taking away her focus, and a sword came at her from the left. She ducked away from Carter, stepping closer to the plant and the body of the man—who was definitely dead by now. Her eyes flashed red as she moved away from my dagger. Her blue lips moved so fast they turned to a blur. I was chanting, too, but my spell was longer. Hopefully, more powerful, too.
Her magic shot from her fingers and I moved to the side. I felt it piercing the air right by my shoulder, and I was relieved that it had missed me—until I heard the sound of a body slamming against the wall. I looked back to see Malin sitting on the floor, eyes closed, blood dripping from her nose. My heart skipped a long beat and my jaw locked for a second, but the witch wasn’t done. Carter was coming for her with his sword raised, but her spell hit him before he reached her. I wanted to tell him to shift, but I’d lose half the spell if I stopped now. The witch was coming for me again, and though she had no weapons on her, she was lightning fast, her every move perfectly precise. There was no doubt that every hit was going to hurt, but I was almost done now. My tongue tied, refusing to let me speak out the words of the spell. I noticed Kit climbing on the back of her legs fast, but she felt him, too. Fuck, she was fast. She gripped Kit by the tail and threw him to the other side of the room without hesitation.
Shit. Just a few more seconds. I could do it. I just had to keep the witch from knocking me out.
The only way I knew how to do that fast was to run to her with my arms wide open and throw her to the ground. That’s exactly what I did. She was faster but I was heavier, and she was tired, too. Her red hair was covered in mud as she tried to move to the side, to get me off her, screaming Latin words as she prepared her next spell for me.
Too late.
I held onto her with all my strength and pressed my palms onto her back, ignoring the pain of her hits on my back and head. Magic left my skin in a rush, slipping from me into her, consuming every last bit of strength I had left. The witch froze under me for a second and then began to shake. Light was gone from my eyes, there was only darkness left. I still felt her body shaking, so hard it threw me to the side, and eventually, I landed on my back in the mud. Something grazed my cheek, something that almost felt like plastic, and the smell of freshly cut grass filled my nostrils, but I still couldn’t see.
My body refused to move. My limbs were so heavy. My mind was shutting down, and I just wanted to sleep.
Too much. I’d used too much magic, but it was okay. If I could sleep for a few minutes, everything would be right again.
Except the witch would be up by then, too. And what if she killed Malin?
“Honey, you don’t have to do this,” someone said—someone who sounded a lot like Nikola. But hadn’t he been a wolf until a second ago? “Please, stop it. I need you to stop it, now.”
“No!” a woman screamed, so hard I would have moved away from the voice if my body allowed. “I will not let you die. Do you hear me? I will not let you die!”
“That’s not for you to decide. Whatever I have left, I want to spend it with you—free, not in prison.” Nikola must have shifted back because that was definitely him.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to live forever? To watch everyone you love die in front of your eyes?” Helen said. “I’m sick of it. I’m so fucking sick of it. You’re not going to die, Nikola. I won’t let you.” Her voice broke. I was dying to open my eyes and look at her face because it sounded like she was crying. But vampires couldn’t cry, could they? It was technically impossible for them to produce tears.
That didn’t mean they didn’t feel pain. We could all hear Helen’s, and for a second, I really did feel sorry for her.
Something cold and sharp touched my cheek. Kit squeaked, jumping on my chest, pulling my head to the sides, making me even more nauseous.
To raise my hand and stop him was out of the question—I still didn’t feel like I had any control over my limbs. But then hands wrapped around my ankles and someone pulled me down. I slid on the mud, and it felt like it got into every pore of my skin. Not a nice feeling.
“Sin, get up,” Carter said. “I’m going to shift. I need you to get up!”
Damian said something. Helen said something else, but it was all lost on me over the whisper I could barely hear—the whisper of the witch, chanting her next spell.
Something must have still been working in me because my eyes opened and the blinding yellow light shocked me to my senses. Carter’s face loomed over me, his muddy hands on my cheeks.
“Can you hear me?” he whispered against my lips.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Nodding was all I could manage. Carter smiled, his amber eyes glowing, even though his skin was covered in mud, too. “Let’s kill the bitch.”
He pulled away from me and Kit took his place, pulling me by the hair as he squeaked, demanding I get up. I thought I did right away, but it must have taken me some time because as soon as I sat up, a huge black wolf jumped right over my head. Carter had shifted, and he landed right behind me.
My vision was semi-clear, but I could see enough to make out Malin still sitting on the floor, back against the wall—and she was moving. I looked around me for the stolen dagger, but it wasn’t there. The other one I’d thrown was a couple feet to my side.
Taking in a deep breath, I made an effort to stand up. Just as I did, Carter slid back right by my side, his claws cutting through the mud as he growled. I looked behind me to see the witch was up, but she couldn’t stand straight. She’d wrapped one arm around her middle, her eyes burning with hatred as she spoke her spell, and Carter went after her again. His wolf was huge, much bigger than Emanuel’s, whom I could see coming slowly behind the witch. I somehow managed to move to the side and grab my dagger.
The witch screamed. Magic exploded from her, but I was too far out of its reach. Carter and Emanuel weren’t. Emanuel was thrown back against the wall on his side, but Carter barely moved back a couple inches. To the other side, Helen was on her knees, Damian at her back, holding her by the neck, and Nikola was in front of her, stark naked, saying something to her.
That’s when I realized that vampires did cry—just not tears. They cried blood, and Helen’s eyes and cheeks were red with it. Shit. Now I really felt sorry for her.
A howl took my attention to the other side of the room, and I turned in time to see Carter lunge for the witch again. His huge jaws locked around the witch’s outstretched hand and he pulled.
I saw my opportunity and I took it. Praying with all my heart for my body not to fail me, I ran to her as she screamed, trying to get her arm back, but Carter didn’t let go. I ran around him and slammed onto the witch once more, only t
his time, my dagger had been ready and aimed for her heart. Carter let go of her arm and we both fell in the mud. The butt of the handle of my dagger almost pierced right through my chest, too, because I couldn’t even hold myself back. The witch’s eyes were wide open as she stared at me, her blue lips opening and closing like a fish out of water. With the last of my strength, I twisted the dagger in her heart.
The light slipped from her eyes the next second, and she stopped moving completely.
A scream took over my mind so suddenly, it made me jump to the side. I was really starting to hate that mud. Helen was the one screaming, her eyes open wide in terror as she stared—not at me, but at the purple plant that was now burning while Malin held her hands over it.
“No!” Helen cried, and it took everything Damian and Nikola had to hold her back by the arms.
I didn’t move at all from my place, just watched her writhe in pain, her skin and clothes covered in mud and blood. Carter’s muzzle touched my jaw, and he sniffed the side of my neck, his tongue licking my skin just a little bit to make goose bumps raise on my flesh.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, but I’m not sure he heard me over Helen’s cries. Kit was on my lap, too, his eyes on the fire burning rapidly, consuming every leaf and every berry on the plant until there was nothing left. I looked up at Damian and flinched at the cut on his left cheek. It must have been very deep to not have healed by now. He didn’t smile this time, as he held Helen back. But in his black eyes I thought I saw gratitude.
He’d let me kill the witch and he hadn’t intervened, even if he could have. Here, he wasn’t trying to piss me off like with the maneaters. And I realized he didn’t try to protect me because he thought I couldn’t do it. He tried to protect me because he could—and I’d have done the same.
When Malin came to my side, I let go and fell in the mud. What’s one more time, right? Soon, I was going home and taking a shower anyway.
Soon, I was going to have a date with Damian Reed.
Chapter Twenty-One