Fury and Fire

by K T Quinn

  "Nice one Miks" she said giving me the thumbs up and a wink.I struck again with my blades. This time aiming for her hands. I sliced into her wrist forcing her to drop her sword. It fell to the ground with a loud clang. Bri didn't miss a beat and launched at me landing a solid kick to my face.

  Her black leather boots sliced the corner of my eye with its hidden blade. My vision began to blur. Lessi roared. She wanted to come out and play. She wanted me to give in and let her take my body. My skin began to ripple and my bones began to crack and break. “Finish her before she changes” screamed Dante at Bri aiming the metallic weapon towards me. Bri came at me with a flurry of kicks and punches in quick succession. I began to block but wasn’t fast enough and each blow alternated landing on my stomach and temple. Blood pooled my vision as I blindly swung out trying to land some punches of my own, Lessi still trying to take over.

  Bri played with me. She danced around my blows as they landed mid air.

  ‘If you won’t set me free then focus! Lessi pushed the thought into my mind before showing me a series of moves that looked like a mix between a dance and some form of martial arts. I centred myself and closed my eyes, focusing on sound and smell to tell me where my target was. Bloodlust filled my every sense. I moved my feet into cat stance and began to slowly move my arms in an arc getting ready to strike. I jumped into the air and kicked my leg out spinning as a distraction. I landed next to my target, my hands forming an arc and struck out quickly, my hands landing on my target’s windpipe crushing it. If we were human, that should have been enough to kill her, but we weren’t. I struck quickly kicking out her knee. The sound of bone crunching and shattering filled my ears. I shivered involuntarily. My eyes still closed and sticky with blood, I focused on the sound of gasping breaths gathering all of the energy from Lessi and the magic of my Fury and slammed the palm of my hand into my target’s chest aiming for her heart and screamed. Tears streamed down my face. I shouldn’t have had to do this. I shouldn’t have to fight the one person who had always had my back. I shouldn’t have been divided from my best friend, my family. This stupid war shouldn’t have been ours to fight. My hand didn’t stop at the chest, it plunged inside until I felt the beating heart of my enemy and squeezed it hard until it finally ceased to beat. I withdrew my hand revolted at what I had done, angry at the powers that be. I felt such anger, such fury, that my body began to feel like it was on fire. I gripped my blades tightly in my hands. I couldn’t pull myself back from the edge of the Bloodlust. I readied myself to battle. I felt the urge to kill, to never stop killing until someone paid. Everyone must pay. Through the haze of my Bloodlust I heard someone begin to slow clap Shaking me free from the clutches of bloodlust. I wiped the blood away from my eyes so that I could better aim for my next target. “Top job Miks, I was starting to think I was going to have to finish the job for you” Bri said as she stepped over Dante’s lifeless body and picked up the weapon covered in Dante’s blood. “Gross” she sniffed rubbing the weapon against her top wiping the blood clean. “You coming or are you going to stay all on fire and shit and cause an explosion” Bri called over her shoulder pointing towards the gas pumps as she casually walked back inside the diner. What the actual fuck! I looked down at my feet and watched as the flames that had engulfed me when my Fury side took over dissipated. I quickly ran after Bri and socked her in the arm. “What the hell Miks!” she glared at me rubbing her arm. “What the hell?! Don’t you what the hell me what the actual fudge just happened Bri! I freaking killed you! What did you do!!” I could feel the rage beginning to surface and the burning need to deliver justice. “Mikah Harper. COOL. THE. HECK. DOWN” Bri snapped at me her eyes glittering with rage. She turned from cold to hot so quickly I was beginning to wonder if the psychotic cow had a personality disorder. “What did you do” I repeated with an icy calm. “I’m a Djinn. What do you mean what did I do? I did Djinn stuff. You know, magical Djinn stuff” she grinned at me. “Alright fine, I just smacked you around so Dante thought I’d shank you to death and waited until you did your hoodoo voodoo all on fire righteousness shiznit and sort of made you think I was Dante. See. Djinn stuff” Bri said tapping the side of her nose winking and moving further into the diner towards my unconscious friends. “What does this even mean” I said mimicking her actions tapping my own nose. “Why would you do that! Why would you make me think you were Dante and then make me think I killed you - that was plain mean Bri. We were once friends. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” I asked my anger leaving me as quick as it came, sadness in its wake. “Mean? Ha!” Bri laughed spinning around and pointing her finger in my face. “Mean?! You don’t know what mean is Miks? You LEFT ME. You freaking left me in the Dark by myself. You were my ride or die. We were in this together and you left me behind for them” she said pointing at my unconscious friends on the floor of the diner. She was right. I had abandoned her. I thought back to the day of our Ascension and the way that i had just allowed myself to stay in the light. I should have fought them harder than I did to get to Bri. She should have come with me. I shouldn’t have ever left her. “I’m sorry Bri, you’re right. I shouldn’t have left you behind and I did. I wasn’t a good friend. It seems to be something I can’t shake” I said as I gestured to my friends on the ground. Their magic bindings had fallen away with the death of Dante, but they still slept. Letting friends down seemed to be a habit I couldn’t shake.

  Bri stood tapping Crigler’s weapon against her leg absently. It left small bloody marks on her skin tight jeans. “You’re taking me back to the Bright Side with you. I have a message from the King for Gabriel. We’ve been compromised. Rebels have infiltrated Shadow Academy and kidnapped some of us. They took your Mom Miks.”

  I looked at Bri stunned before falling to my knees. Mom was gone? “How did this happen? How could they have taken Mom? She’s a Fury!”

  “We found a small needle filled with poison where she was taken. Not enough to kill, but enough to make her seriously sick. The King is asking for a ceasefire. He wants Gabriel to put together a taskforce with him to find the rebels, kill them and get our people back.” I stared at Bri closely trying to make out if she was being honest. Her eyes were serious and grim. I knew Bri well enough to know she wasn’t lying. I felt sick to the stomach. The rebels had Mom!

  Syn burst through the doors with his men startling me. “They’ve taken the Oracle. They’ve taken Nazar” he said in a shocked tone. Syn moves closer to me and pulled me into a hug before delivering the final blow. His men attended to Titan and my friends. I moved to help them wanting to wake Titan. I was scared for him. “He’ll be okay” Syn soothed. He turned my body to face him before pulling me into one of his signature hugs. “They took Wyrmie too Miks. We didn’t know. I’m sorry, so sorry gorgeous.” Syn kissed my hair and squeezed me tight. My heart ached. I could barely function, grief and despair threatened to swallow me whole.

  “Come on little sister” Bri said softly squeezing my shoulder. “We need to speak with your Gabriel.” Syn growled at Bri as she touched me and moved me away from her reach. No love was lost between those two. I nodded at Bri and pushed myself from Syn’s arms. “She’s right. Will you stay with him?” I asked Syn motioning towards Titan. He looked so peaceful while he slept.

  “Of course my Fury Queen. We will protect him for you and get them all back to the academy. We’ll sort this mess out here, don’t worry about it. Now go!” Syn nodded towards the door signalling me to leave. My thoughts still on my Mom, Wyrmie and the Oracle I recalled the crumpled note that Nazar had pushed into my hands. I pulled it from my back pocket and smoothed it out.

  POISON SPREADS ACROSS THE LIGHT LIKE A CANCER. IT IS IN THE LEADING RANKS. TRUST NO ONE. FIND THE TRAITOR.

  WE WILL BE OKAY.

  WYRMIE WILL KEEP US SAFE.

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks to Bri Amari for your ongoing support, and never allowing me to give up on my dreams. Thank you to my beautiful boys Ollie, Luka and
Dayne for always encouraging me to be the best version of me. And of course a really big thank you to all of my readers. You rock!

  About the Author

  K T Quinn is an emerging author of fantasy romance. She hails from the Central Coast of NSW Australia. Loves all things magical, bookish and martial arts. Could possibly be a magical wizard.

  To keep in touch subscribe to KT’s newsletter here:

  https://mailchi.mp/f3a7d15eaf5e/ktquinnnewsletter