by Ellie Margot
“She sounds lucky. Family, a man who loves her, and a girl to fight for her.” Her voice was quiet.
She continued. “There’s a Mage here,” she started.
The quiet sound of Guy swearing could barely be heard, but Riette took notice.
“She’s with her if she’s anywhere. She normally hangs around Remy Ten. It’s a bar on the bad part of town. That’s all I can say.” The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you,” said Cassian. His jaw was tight.
The woman nodded and turned. She didn’t run this time. Each step was labored, and there was a limp in her movement that Riette prayed, despite her anger, wasn’t her fault.
She turned to the rest of them.
“So we need to find a Mage,” said Riette.
Guy shook his head. “You can’t fuck with Mages. They’re the ones who drain Elves. They use them for power, stealing their essence from them for their own gain.”
“And that’s who you sold her to?” asked Mekhi. “A Dark Mage?”
“She’s different,” said Guy.
Mekhi scowled. “Different but drains Elves? What the fuck?”
“You better hope she’s okay,” said Cassian.
“We’ll get her back,” said Riette. She turned to Guy. “Give me a twig. I need to get my strength up before going in there.”
Guy grabbed some and handed them out.
Riette chewed a chunk before wiping her mouth. “I’m not returning home without her.”
“None of us are,” said Mekhi.
Chapter 30
Remy Ten was the only place busy for blocks.
After Guy spoke with the men out front, he left the others on the street to watch the exchange at the edges of the bar. A few moments passed, and one man nodded.
Guy came back down the steps, his shoulders no less heavy, despite the news he carried.
“What did you say to them?” asked Riette.
“That we were here to speak with the Mage.”
“She’s here?” asked Mekhi.
Guy nodded. He looked over his shoulder and scratched his neck again. “She’s in there too. Corin.”
“She’s okay?” asked Mekhi. Cassian also stepped forward at hearing her name.
“She’s alive,” said Guy. “I don’t know much more than that.”
The bar looked older than the other buildings around it but better kept and more frequented. Whatever life Peruth had left could be found here, so it was no wonder the Dark Mage was inside.
“It’s going to be okay,” said Riette. She didn’t want to comfort Guy, but he had the look of needing it.
“Are you ready?” asked Mekhi. He looked to Riette, and she nodded back.
“We go in together; we come out together,” said Cassian, his voice firm.
“With Corin with us,” said Riette. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder again. It hadn’t moved. She was sure Bark could feel her tension. The monkey had probably solidified itself again by now. The last time Riette had checked, that had been the case.
Guy led them up the steps. He didn’t rush, and Riette didn’t push past him. They needed some level of decorum, even she knew that.
Maybe the Mage would be reasonable. Maybe she knew better than to hope.
The bar itself was dark and almost full. There was a central bar, and there was a man behind the bar. He was large, thick, with long hair. Tattoos swirled down his arms, all black, all in a script Riette couldn’t read.
He spotted them as soon as they entered.
Guy walked up to the bar and sat down. The rest stood behind him, with Riette the closest to Guy’s side.
“We’re looking for a Mage,” said Guy.
A puzzled look came over the man’s face. Then a hardness set in.
He looked to Riette. “You all don’t want any of that,” he said. His voice was gruff.
“We don’t have a choice,” said Riette.
The man considered Riette. He placed both hands on the bar and let out a puff of air.
“All right. Backside of the bar. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Not a clue, but I know who I’m doing it for,” said Riette.
“Sometimes that’s enough,” said the man, and he nodded his head over his shoulder to give them direction.
Riette muttered a soft thank you, and Guy did the same, and then she led them around the side to the back. The bar was deep, so much of the size of the place couldn’t be seen from the door. When they rounded the corner, all of them stopped, but Riette saw her first.
Corin.
Corin was surrounded by people. There were creatures that were all around her. Many of them had barb tattoos covering their faces. They were large, and mostly male, towering over the small tables they leaned upon.
There was something wrong with Corin. She sat still, but there were no chains, and no one was holding her back. Corin was just a girl at a table with people who were strangers to them, yet her eyes weren’t focused. Her posture was stooped, and there was a blonde woman by her side.
“Corin,” Mekhi said. His voice was loud enough to carry.
Riette put a hand over his chest to stop him from rushing forward.
“Something is wrong,” said Riette.
“We have to—”
“You’re here,” said the blonde.
Corin did not even look over. There wasn’t any sign of recognition on her face. Or life at all.
“We’ve been waiting for this party to begin.” The blonde stood. The people seated at the tables moved out of her way to accommodate her.
“Sam,” she said. “And you are?”
Cassian shook his head slightly next to Riette, and Sam’s face broke into a small smile.
“You’re the brother,” she said. She turned to Mekhi. “And you’re the lover, or the one who would like to be.” Sam faced Riette. “And you. You are the one I’ve been dying to see.”
“Good choice of words,” said Riette. Her tattoo burned on her back, and she didn’t try to check it. Sam raised an eyebrow.
Then she laughed. “Cute.”
Riette considered her. She was young, close to Riette’s own age, she was guessing. And she didn’t match her words. They were serious, but her voice was not.
Sam acted like she was playing a game. Sam was also curvy, smaller, and most of the company around her, the most notable exception being Corin, were men Riette couldn’t place, types she had never seen. They were hardened by things Riette had never encountered. She could tell by the scars that seemed to cut some of them almost in two.
“We’ve come for Corin,” Riette said.
“I know you have, but it’s not that easy,” said Sam. “Look, I’m not one to fuck up a family reunion, but in this case, I have to. I bought her. She’s mine, and I don’t plan on parting with her.”
“She’s not fucking property,” said Mekhi.
“She’s not yours to keep,” said Riette, stilling Mekhi with an arm on his shoulder, the heat of his tattoo rising under her hand. It was understandable, but she didn’t want Mekhi to get them killed, not without Riette taking the first shot.
“Damien,” Sam said and snapped her fingers. A man that was part mountain stood up. He had tan skin and dark hair, and his shoulders were broader than the table. When he stood up and moved behind Sam, he was an additional half of her size.
“For the record, I’m sorry we couldn’t meet under different circumstances,” said Sam.
They stepped back as more and more members of the table stood and got into a twisted formation in front of them. There was a woman with whips in her hand and skin so white, she looked blue in the lights they had. Or maybe she was. The veins in her skin looked like they were seconds from spreading over her body and taking her over, each one black and well defined.
When Riette noticed that, she looked back to Sam’s main henchman. His veins were dark too, crawling up his neck and in swirling patterns that at first look, appeared as tattoos. The
man to the right of the pale woman was short with bigger arms than Riette had ever seen on a person, at least a person with two eyes. He bared his teeth at Riette, and she heard the growl, but she didn’t give him the pleasure of reaction.
None of them deserved to get that.
Riette almost stopped when she saw that one of Sam’s minions was an insect creature. It wasn’t the same one. This one had one eye and a scar where there other one should be. A red liquid dripped from its mouth, and it peeled what a creative person would call its lips back in a snarl.
Mekhi jumped up and down on the balls of his feet. He cracked his neck and turned toward them.
“She’s alive. Her chest is moving.” Mekhi spit on the floor and looked up with an expression Riette had only seen in the mirror.
“You all ready to fuck shit up?”
Cassian said, “We need a plan.”
“I’ll take the ugly one,” Riette said.
“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific,” said Guy. He tossed a twig at Riette, and she bit a chunk off with her teeth.
Mekhi took the rest of the twig from Riette and chewed the full piece in his mouth.
“Fine, I’ll kill the biggest,” said Riette.
“And I’ll take the remainders,” said Mekhi.
“Take care of yourself,” said Cassian. “I’m not losing anyone here.”
“Flame forward, fuckers,” said Riette, and her tattoos roared to life.
Chapter 31
The dark-haired man moved from behind Sam. He touched her hair, and they smiled. Riette would have thought it was cute if she wasn’t planning on killing them if it came to it.
The flames came to life in her palms. The tingle was stronger than before. The Vitan energy from the twig coursed through her, warming her veins like simmering tea about to boil her from the inside out.
She set the bag down on the floor under the closest table and stepped forward to meet the man. The insect creature moved closer, blocking her path, and Cassian went tense beside her. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, and Riette felt the wind. At first, it felt like a breeze against her skin, but it grew.
The people in front of her stilled. They looked to each other, but they had the wherewithal to stop themselves from looking afraid. Riette caught their reactions before they righted them. She smiled and lifted an eyebrow when she made eye contact with Sam, who still sat watching her.
The flames were still on her palms. Mekhi didn’t smile. His eyes only left Corin to eye the short man who was more muscles than sense, if Riette’s guess was worth anything. Cassian didn’t see anything. His eyes were closed to the world, and the wind blew through his hair. Riette’s too.
As she watched him channeling, she touched his arm, and his back arched. His eyes rolled back in his head, and the whites went dark. Things on the table flew, and people who weren’t part of either party left.
Riette released him, and he took a breath, deep in his chest, but his eyes didn’t change, and the wind didn’t slow.
The insect in front of Riette charged. The flames hadn’t left her hands, but she pushed the power forth to cross the gap between them. Fire hit his chest first. He was bigger than Riette was, but he yelled out the same as anyone would. Cupping the fire on his chest, he motioned as if he was pushing it off.
The insect moved closer, a snarl on his lips. Tables were in the way, and he didn’t stop to push them aside. They moved because he moved through them.
Riette curled her hand, and a ball of fire formed inches above her palm.
A screech sounded from the insect, but only a second before the yell left its lips, the fireball flew through his chest, and it didn’t stop when it seared through. It continued to hurl through the air, only disappearing when it landed in the wall at the back of the room.
The woman with the see-through skin yelled, and it took Riette a second to know why. Her face had been burned, a slice across her cheek, as if a knife made of burning metal had split her cheek in two.
She pulled a sword from behind her back.
“Shit,” Riette said, and she dropped to a crouch.
The short man rushed to Mekhi, who tried to summon his powers. The water sign showed through the clothes on his back.
“Fuck it,” Mekhi said. He threw a punch that connected with the man’s jaw. The man reared back, his head turning with the contact. He spit blood on the floor and spun back. Mekhi kept his hand up and adjusted his stance, waiting. The man smiled and licked the blood off his teeth. He didn’t spit that time. He swallowed.
Mekhi looked at Corin and yelled as he charged into the stomach of the man and shoved him into the table.
Riette wanted to intervene, but the woman with the sword that looked bigger than she could handle was moving closer. Riette turned to see where Guy was, but he was standing near Sam, his hands up as if he were about to fight.
Riette turned back toward the woman and saw her pull the sword up above her head and swing it down in front of her body. It was feet in front of where Riette stood. Since it wasn’t closer, Riette knew it was a show of the strength it carried. It was almost as if it had power separate from its owner.
Riette closed her eyes and pressed her hand against the floor. The strings from deep inside of her hummed. She pulled them tightly under her will and her control.
The woman sliced the air in front of her face before the ground shook.
Where Riette’s hand landed, the ground broke, splintering under her fingertips. The ripple ran to the veined woman’s feet. She tried to right herself, but it was too late. The sword fell first, and she met it before falling completely to the floor. The sword impaled her side, and her eyes were wide and focused solely on Riette. They stayed that way until her eyes closed to never be opened again.
Riette stood, trying to catch her breath. Her hands shook when she held one in front of her face and looked past her fingers to see the others. Then, she wiped the back of her hand across her face and swallowed.
The woman’s blood pooled in front of her feet, inching toward her, each second moving it closer and closer. Riette stepped back an inch to dodge it, but she didn’t focus her attention there.
Mekhi and the muscle man were still tangled. Mekhi’s face showed a smattering of colors. Riette stepped forward, but Mekhi reared back and threw his everything into a punch that landed directly on the man’s throat as if he was going to push his way through it.
Cassian was still mainlining a power that Riette didn’t know if he would recover from. She jerked his arm to bring him back, and he blinked and swallowed. His eyes were run through with red. He gulped air like he had gone all those minutes without it.
Then he turned, and without uttering a word, he focused all of his new-gained force on three other opponents who were working to charge Riette from behind. Riette turned to see them being held into the air by wind that charged from Cassian’s hands. They fought against the current, but they remained suspended, kicking against the wind that held them captive.
When Riette turned, though, she realized she didn’t have time to bring him back, not when the insect moved closer. His wound was dripping a green pus-like substance that burned through everything it touched, including the tabletop.
“You’re going to pay,” it snarled.
“You need to lie down before you’re in fucking pieces,” Riette barked.
It couldn’t use its right arm, but it moved toward her with every intention to use its left to try and destroy her.
“Remember that I warned you.”
Chapter 32
“Bitch,” he snarled.
“Insect piece of shit,” she spat. “How are you still vertical?”
“It’ll take more than some little girl with torch hands to fuck with me.”
“So be it,” said Riette. She closed her eyes, but the insect got closer, and before she could react, it grabbed her by the throat with its pincer-like hands.
It lifted her off the floor, and her skin f
elt like it was ripping where the curved bits of bones pulled her harder. Her legs left the floor until she dangled at the insect’s level with her head near the ceiling.
“Riette,” said Cassian. His voice was choked from deep inside of him.
She opened her eyes, and her feet kicked underneath her while the creature held her like a toy, watching her struggle.
Riette reached her hands up to hoist and support her own weight. She didn’t want to dangle by her head, and she didn’t want the insect to have the pleasure of watching her struggle.
He was using his left pincer, and the hole in his right shoulder still dripped acid onto the floor. It had no effect on the rest of his body though, and his shoulders lifted with the laughter coming out of his mouth.
Cassian stumbled toward her, but another monster from Sam’s collection was moving to head him off.
“Cassian, behind you,” Riette choked out.
His eyes widened, and he turned in enough time to block the punch of the man gaining on him.
“This ends now, fucker,” Riette gurgled. She could feel the delicate skin of her throat starting to give in. Closing her eyes again, she forced every bit of energy she could muster into a fireball, while also pulling the strings to put brute force of her earth wielding powers behind it.
Riette swung her legs, gathering forward momentum to be able to land a kick on the monster’s chest. It didn’t land with any kind of power, and the insect laughed again and lifted her slightly higher.
What the kick did do was distract him enough that he didn’t see the fire swirling above her hand as she reached the closest part of him that she could touch, his upper left arm.
Riette placed her hand against it, and using the earth-wielding powers combined with the fire that raged inside of her at seeing her family hurt, she pushed the concentrated energy into his skin.
Like a gunshot, one that boomed in the bar and shook the walls of the structure, the blast exploded, taking his arm with it and dropping Riette several feet to the floor. The insect howled, wounded with one hole going through him and minus an arm.
