Knox jumps to his feet, powering up a fireball between his hands. “Damn, who invited the ass hats to the dance?”
“Maddox. Who else would know we might hit the beach first?” I say, casting my senses out in a wide net, scanning for the traitorous dick.
I hit a wall. The Bad Hats must be short-circuiting my reach. The only thing I sense is the hostility radiating off them as they fan out and march toward us. The darkness swirling around them builds swiftly, thick and tinged with red.
“Don’t like the look of that,” I say as I allow a ball of lightning to build in the palm of my hand.
Bulking up into the Oni demon, Hurley stomps forward. “Zap ‘em with your faery jui–”
Power explodes from the Bad Hats, smashing into the four of us, flinging us through the air. Stunned by the blast, I land hard, the air hammering from my lungs. As I gasp for breath, the black cloud compresses around me, thick, acrid and smothering. Instinctively, I reach for my Djinn fire, dissolving into smoke and crackling electricity.
Big mistake.
Whatever this force is, I can’t move through it. The cloud’s dark matter fuses to my particles, dampening my crystalline energy, grounding out all electrical charges.
Somewhere within the tar-like energy, I hear Hurley snarling with rage, and Knox swearing like a maniacal sailor. Sienna’s quiet, possibly knocked out. Concern sets in. I didn’t see if she took the cure or not. If she’s back to normal, she won’t last long. Black magic this strong kills humans.
Glinting light and a flash of silver pierce the pitch-black surrounding me. Flames burst from a metal surface, spiraling around my immobilized particles, encasing me inside a sphere of witchfire. The heaviness of the shroud burns off. I can move now, but only within the confines of the flaming orb I’m trapped inside. Panicked, I focus on teleporting to Magic Brew, where it’s safe.
Can’t do it. The witchfire is infused with a binding spell.
The darkness parts and I’m carried out into the early morning light. That’s when I see Rade’s armored glove, the Hand of Kairgain. It’s doubling the strength of the orb I’m trapped in. His warlocks are circled round the others, feeding their black, churning shroud with a deadly dose of magic.
Rade’s smiling at his handiwork. With his other hand, he lifts an odd-shaped bottle up to the witchfire spinning above the silver glove.
Wait, that’s no bottle. It’s a lava lamp.
“Genie perpetuum carcerem,” Rade commands.
The power behind the words scrapes against my soul, filling my every atom with terror. My worst nightmare’s become a reality. The sum of my existence has been sucked up like a piece of lint in the hose of a vacuum and dropped into a frickin’ novelty item made for stoners to trip out on.
29
Lava Lamp Genie
RADE’S SMUG VOICE PENETRATES the lamp. “Lightning in a bottle.” He taps the glass with perfectly manicured fingernails. “You put on a wicked show. Way better than my other lava lamp genie.”
Dick bag. That’s my mother he’s talking about! Fury explodes from me in a shower of electricity, bouncing back on me with twice the force.
He laughs. “Look at the speck of dirt trying to kick up a dust storm.”
If I had fists, I’d smash this glass and use a piece of it to slice his throat the way he sliced mine. Instead I’m reduced to stewing in my own juices.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day. I’ve got my prince back, and the best part is, I didn’t have to shell out any coin.” He laughs with way too much satisfaction. “Now we can get back to opening that portal. I’m dying to step through so I can shake hands with your dear old dad and watch him fry on the ouchy end of my glove.”
Angry red bolts burst from me.
“Save it, killer,” Rade says. “You’re royally screwed. The good news is you have a front row seat to the show. Which one of your friends do you think’ll bite it first? My money’s on the Oni demon. All muscle and no brain.”
When Hurley breaks free, he’ll tear him a new one for that remark.
“But then again, the chick’s a newborn vamp,” Rade says, pushing my hot button. “She doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance.” A condescending smile spreads across the warlock’s face as I lash against the walls of my glass prison. “Oh, the boy’s crushin’ on the girl.” He gestures to his gang. One of them reaches in and pulls Sienna from the smothering black cloud.
She’s alive.
Rade gestures for one of the warlocks to bring her to him. Her face is drawn and colorless. There’s no sign of the supernatural luminescence beneath her skin. I never actually saw if she took the cure. Could it be she did? My hopes soar, and then crash just as quickly. Have I forced her to give up her powers, only to leave her helpless against the warlocks?
Rade grabs her by the jaw. Digging into her flesh with his metal glove, he turns her face back and forth. “I can see why you like her, genie.”
She stares back at him, her eyes shining with defiant tears.
“Nice bones,” Rade continues. “I’ll make sure I kill her gently. Wouldn’t want to spoil perfection.”
Fear crashes in. I’m powerless to save her. Lightning bursts from my atoms. I’m out of control, trapped inside my own emotional hurricane. The electricity boomerangs wildly, zapping my microscopic pieces into extinction.
Rade’s self-satisfied expression suddenly blurs out of sight and I’m plummeting downward. With an abrupt jolt, I land in the sand at his feet. He dropped me.
Feet trample around me and someone kicks the lamp. Landing a little further away, I hear shouts and turn my attention outward. Dark tendrils of mist crisscross the pale sky, striking several warlocks and spearing them straight through.
A warlock falls in front of me, his stunned blue eyes staring into the afterlife. My view would be blocked, but fortunately for me, there’s a huge hole bored all the way through his chest cavity and I’ve got a decent view of the battle.
The black cloud billowing around Hurley and Knox thins. Half the warlocks have turned away from their spell. They’re busy hurling red fiery spears across the boardwalk into the carnival grounds, where the surprise attack’s coming from. But the killing mist snakes past their defensive lobs, drilling holes through four more warlocks.
Some other gang must’ve ambushed the Bad Hats. They’ve got some serious beef with the warlocks to take them on this way. Whoever they are, they pack a mean and powerful punch.
I check for Sienna. She’s curled in a ball several yards from me. She’s either terrified or seriously weakened by the shroud they used on all of us.
My atoms explode with rage and frustration. A wild, electrical storm churns within the lamp. The fiery arcs backlash, destroying precious particles. If I keep this up, I’ll either fry myself into oblivion or end up with missing body parts when I finally get out of here. It kills me, but I’m going to have to stay as calm as I can and wait this one out.
Rade rushes to the forefront with the Hand of Kairgain extended. A ripple of crimson sparks bursts from his gauntlet in concentric circles, forming a shimmering dome over him and his gang. The death-dealing tendrils hit Rade’s shield, splitting off, sliding over it like fingers feeling for weak spots.
Only five Bad Hats remain. Obviously rattled by their heavy losses, the warlocks have completely dropped the spell holding my guys so they can battle their unseen attackers.
Not too smart.
The shroud over Hurley and Knox dissolves and disappears. Hurley lunges at the nearest warlock, snapping his neck as easy as a matchstick between two fingers. The warlock drops to the ground, leaving his top hat in Hurley’s meaty claws. At the same time, Knox wraps an arm around one of them, bites down on the dude’s ear, while barbequing another warlock with a blast of fire.
The beach fills with screams of pain.
Hurley locks eyes on Rade’s back. “Did I hear somethin’ about being brainless? I’m gonna empty your skull, warlock. Then we’ll see who
’s got the brains and who doesn’t.”
Still generating the forcefield against his attackers, Rade glances over his shoulder just as Hurley launches himself at the warlock. Rade ducks low, barely escaping a lethal swipe of Hurley’s claws. Off balance, Rade staggers backwards as Hurley hits the ground, spitting mad and snarling wildly.
Damn, that was Hurley’s best opening. He’s in for it now.
Forced to let his protective shield drop, Rade aims the Hand of Kairgain at Hurley. Power explodes from the glove, pounding him into the ground. Knox yells, shooting fire at Rade as he charges forward. The warlock turns his silver hand on him, blasting Knox with a massive energetic smackdown.
“You think you can beat me? A pureblood?” Rade says, sneering at Hurley and Knox as they roll on the ground in pain. “You’re nothing but inferior mutts.” He strides forward and towers over them. “I will gut you both. I will fill my chalice with your blood and grind your bones.”
He’s not bluffing. Now would be a good time for that other gang to drill a hole through this asshole while his back’s turned. Where are they? I don’t get it. Rade’s shield is down. It’s the perfect time to strike again.
I drop my attention back to Hurley and Knox. This is nerve-racking. They’re dragging themselves across the sand, trying to get away. Come on you two, get the hell up.
“That’s right. Be afraid, be very afraid,” Rade drones on, his posture growing straighter by the minute. “I won’t just mangle your rotting corpses. I will curse your souls to eternal–”
Rade catapults forward, thrown face down in the sand by Sienna. Or what used to be her. She’s all spider arms and legs as she pins Rade down. Her clothes are in tatters. Her face is unrecognizable and her torso’s a bony exoskeleton with a bulbous stinger throbbing at the base of her spine. She’s stabbing him with it over and over again.
Withdrawing from the hideous sight, I turn in on myself. All my hopes for a future with her vanish. Nyx said I’d regret bringing Sienna with me, and part of me truly does. Yet she just saved Knox and Hurley from becoming stains on the beach.
A dull ache of the soul comes over me as I’m forced to endure Rade’s tortured screams. Get it over with, Sienna. Waste him already. Put the son of a bitch out of his misery.
A chilling shriek cuts through Rade’s screams. Turning back to the gruesome scene, I see Sienna shrinking from the sunlight. The sun’s risen above the waterline, casting the beach in sudden, blinding light. She leaps off Rade, and in a whirlwind of flying sand and smoke, digs herself into the soft earth. From beneath the mound of sand, I hear her whimper.
The soft sound slays me.
Knox and Hurley struggle to their feet, staggering in place as they take in all the carnage. Out of thirteen warlocks, only three look like they’re still breathing. Barely. Rade’s one of them, but I doubt he’ll live much longer. Black Widow venom is deadly.
I cast about for the mystery gang again. There’s no sign of them. That makes me nervous. If I had a voice, I’d warn the others. This is no time to relax. We need to book it on over to Magic Brew.
Which reminds me. Does anybody know I’m stuck in this damn lava lamp?
“The beach is goin’ to hell,” Hurley says, kicking one of the dead warlocks out of the way. “There’s trash everywhere.”
Knox spits on the warlock with one less ear. “Yeah. We’re gone one night, and there goes the neighborhood.”
“Where’s Edge?” Hurley says.
Finally. Somebody noticed I’m missing.
Shrinking down to normal size, Hurley scans the battlefield for me. “He wasn’t taken down. So where is he?”
Knox digs his boot under Rade, rolling him onto his back. “I bet the sissy preener knows.”
Rade’s not looking good. Sand and tangled hair cling to the drool on his face. His skin is pasty and tinged a grayish green. But there is a nice pop of color coming from his blue, blood-shot eyes.
Knox kicks him in the ribs when he doesn’t answer. “What’d you do to Edge, warlock?”
Rade’s mouth opens but only a gurgle comes out.
Hurley kneels down next to Rade. “Edge better be alive or this mutt’s gonna have to mangle your ass.”
Rade lifts a quivering arm. He’s either pointing in my direction or spazzing out. I can’t tell which.
Hurley follows the line of Rade’s arm until his eyes rest on the dead warlock lying in front of me. Great, he can’t see me. Hell, even if he could, how’s Hurley supposed to know I’m inside this stupid lamp?
Hurley’s eyes go round with shock.
Yes, he sees me.
Hurley’s look of shock turns to fury. He jumps to his feet, bulking up into Big Red.
What’s got him so freaking mad?
Knox moves in next to Hurley, fight face on and all fired up.
Something big is going down. Did the mystery gang show their faces? Swirling within the lamp, I try to see what’s got them both so worked up, when all of a sudden, a shadow falls over me and everything goes black.
30
Burn Baby Burn
I’M IN THE DARK. Big time.
Just a guess, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been shoved inside some sort of case or bag that’s spelled. That would account for all sound being blocked out, otherwise I’d be able to hear what’s going on out there. Given Hurley and Knox’s reaction, I’m 99% sure the badasses who wasted Rade’s warlocks are the ones who have me.
They obviously aren’t interested in the bounty. If they were, they wouldn’t have tried to ice the guys paying the reward. So what is it they want with me? Whatever it is, it can’t be good.
The bag I’m in lifts off me and I’m able to see where I am.
Jimi Hendrix is staring back at me from a black light poster, loud with neon greens, purples and pinks. In fact, I’m surrounded in psychedelic colors and crazy patterns. On the table next to me is a kerosene lamp. The spriggan inside it looks over at me and sits straight, the blue flame on its head flaring bright.
I know how you feel, buddy, but I sure am glad to see you. I’m back in Magic Brew. If I had a face, I’d be grinning like an idiot.
“No more talk! I’m bustin’ Edge out of there!” I hear Knox yell.
Following the sound of his voice, I see Hurley first. He’s holding a black cloth, no doubt the spelled material that kept me in the dark. He’s half turned toward me, giving me the thumbs up. Or pointing. I’m not sure which.
Zulu and Knox are standing next to Hurley with their backs to me. Someone else is there. Holy shit, it’s Fletcher! Last time I saw him he was in demon form, trapped by the Dreads up against the roof of a train car and ready to kill us all. To be honest, I’d given up on ever seeing him again. Fletcher always said the day would come when the monster would take over for good. It’s damn nice to see he won the battle and made it back. I can only imagine Pandora’s relief.
I search the room for her. As soon as I see her, my heart sinks. She’s over by the bar standing next to India who’s slumped over crying. There’s a body lying on the countertop. It’s Nyx.
I can’t handle it. I have to look away.
Sienna’s near the front entrance. She’s wrapped in a beach towel, pacing and watching the others warily. After what I saw her become on the beach, I can’t really say how I feel about her anymore. But I’m glad they brought her here. She’s new to what she is and shouldn’t have to be alone with it. Most of all, without her help in these last few rumbles, Knox, Hurley and even Pandora would be as dead as the others.
“Outta my way!” Knox yells as he pushes somebody. Zulu steps aside and someone careens toward me, bumping the table I’m on, tipping me over the edge. I’m good with that. Whatever it takes to smash this lamp.
A hand shoots out and catches me, drawing me close to a face.
Maddox’s face.
For a split second I go still. My mind’s reeling, trying to suss out the situation. What the hell is he doing here? Then it hits me. Maddox is the one who bo
mbed the Bad Hats. He’s the only one powerful enough to do it. But why?
He wants back in.
My hatred crackles around me, scorching away pieces of me. I try to calm down, but it’s impossible. Not with this hate list scorched in my mind. Maddox conspired with Rade. Maddox tricked me and rendered me helpless. Maddox murdered Booker. Maddox brought the whole city down on us. Maddox is the reason Nyx, Justice, Booker and Constantine are dead. Maddox is why Sienna’s a monster. Maddox kept me from Anguish and everything I needed to know about myself.
Loathing rises from the darkest part of me, tinting the lava lamp’s glass to blood red. Focusing on Maddox, I pour my will, fury and all my power into one thought.
Kill Maddox.
Fire and lightning blast from my center with the force of a hurricane, shattering the lamp in a shower of glass. Every hateful part of me fills the room. Posters rip from the walls, whipping through the air on violent currents. Bolts of angry-red lightning split the silence, scorching the ceiling as I touch down on the hardwood floor, my atoms hammering swiftly into solid form.
Everyone but Maddox has scattered to the far side of the room. They’re all clustered next to the bar with Pandora and India. The explosion threw Maddox to the floor. He’s lying in a heap, his long colorless hair splayed across a torn Woodstock poster. His face is riddled with glass shards. Blood’s streaming from every cut. True to form, he shows no pain. Lifting himself up off the floor, he stands straight, his chin held high.
His arrogance rots me to no end.
Shaking with fury, I draw the storm crackling above my chest down into my clenched fists. The power throbs along my arms, hot and painful.
Maddox’s eyes widen with what should be fear, but I know he’s not afraid. He’s fascinated.
I unleash everything I’ve got at him.
The fiery bolts jolt from my outspread hands, smash into an invisible force and bounce off in harmless sparks.
“This is a no fight zone,” Maddox says as he pries a large piece of glass from his cheekbone. The nasty gash closes, healing and fading as the smaller shards fall off his face, pushed out by his tough vampire hide. He drops the bloody glass at his feet. “Did you forget India’s neutrality spell?”
Magic Brew Page 21
