by Linsey Hall
Fire Mages.
In a wooden town.
Staring at our wooden house.
“He’s come to make an example of us,” I said. We hadn’t paid up in months, instead using our money on a lead for Rowan that hadn’t panned out.
“We don’t have the payment.”
“And we’ve hocked everything of value already.”
“Except the buggy.”
My stomach soured. “We give him that and we’re dead. No way to make a living means we’ll be in this situation next month when it’s time to pay up.”
“So you’re saying we run for it?”
A blast sounded. Debris exploded out from the corner of the kitchen.
I leapt back.
One of the mages tossing blue balls of energy into the air had clearly gotten sick of waiting and had hurled one toward the house.
I stared at the hole in the wall. Outside, sunlight shined on the dirt. I swallowed hard. “Yep! Time to run. The time for negotiating is past. We can do a couple more jobs in the desert and use that money to buy ourselves some time.”
“Sounds risky. But since the alternative is that they blow up the house with us inside…” Ana grimaced. “I’m in.”
“Good.” If I was going to go down, it’d be in a blaze of glory, rescuing some baby bald eagles or something heroic. Not as a barbecued example made by a Blood Sorcerer.
I leaned to get a better look out the window. The Fire Mages were tossing their fireballs more quickly, deadly jugglers impatient to start their act. My heart thundered, and my skin grew cold.
Another energy ball plowed straight toward the kitchen window, as if someone had seen me peering out.
A scream caught in my throat as I threw myself to the floor, trying to avoid the blast of wooden shards splintering out from the wall.
“Time to go!” I scrambled to my feet, Ana following.
We crawled to the back door, staying low to avoid the windows and darting around debris. In the living room, I grabbed the picture frame off the otherwise empty TV table and yanked the picture out, shoving it in my jacket pocket. It was the only image we had of our mother and Rowan. If these guys bombed our place, no way I wanted to lose it.
I hurried to join Ana, then crouched at the door and looked at her. I swallowed my fear. “You shield and I’ll blast?”
She nodded. “On three.”
We counted down, then burst out of the door. Because our lives were generally screwed up, we’d practiced this, knowing that one day, our luck would run out and someone would find us here.
Like clockwork, we did as we’d trained, Ana going high and me going low, like the SWAT team on TV. It was where we’d learned our moves, back when we’d had a TV.
She threw out her hands and her magic exploded outward, creating a glimmering force field that shielded us from oncoming blows.
Ten feet from us, there was a man. He was tall and slender, wearing an overcoat that must be torture in this heat. He raised his hand, and a blue glass potion bomb glinted in the light.
Dark magic radiated from the thing, stinking like a fish in a sewer.
Only deadly potion bombs smelled that bad.
“You’re gonna die, girlie,” he growled, voice thick with malevolence.
“Girlie?” I snarled at him.
I drew my sword and shield from the ether, not wanting to waste magic on someone so close. His eyes widened at the sight of the steel. He moved to hurl his potion bomb, but I was too fast, raising my shield and darting toward him. I stabbed him through the heart.
He gurgled and grunted, blood pouring down his chest. The deadly potion bomb dropped to the ground, and I dodged the splash. I yanked my blade free and kicked him backward. He tumbled into the dirt, sprawling on his back.
“Shouldn’t stand so close to the enemy,” I said. “Because I’m fast.”
I raced back behind Ana’s shield and stashed my sword in the ether.
“Nice one,” she said.
“Thanks.” I was good with my sword, though I hated to kill. But that guy had made his plans clear. Frankly, I’d rather it be him than me and Ana.
“There!” Ana pointed toward the edge of the house.
A mage had appeared, clearly scouting out the back of the house. He was a skinny man in his forties. His black eyes darted to us, and he grinned, raising his hands. Fire glowed around them, ready to be hurled at us.
At my wooden house.
They were going to destroy my house.
We owned almost nothing, and they would take it from us.
My skin chilled as I crouched low and lunged toward the edge of the shield. Behind him, there was nothing but sagebrush, since we lived at the edge of town. I could attack without worrying about blasting away my neighbor’s house. I flung a sonic boom toward the man.
He hurled a fireball at the same time. It collided with my magic, the fire exploding in a shower of sparks, before the boom overpowered it and crashed into the mage, throwing him to his back.
He stayed down, clearly knocked out.
Good. After our fight across Death Valley, I wasn’t fully charged. Every shot had to count.
“To the corner.” I hurried toward the edge of the house.
Ana dropped her shield and followed. Like all supernaturals—or the vast majority, at least—her power wasn’t infinite either.
We peered around the edge. Relief coursed through me when I saw that the buggy, which was parked at the side of the house, was fine. There was no one near it, and the only damage was from the salt monster earlier today. The enemy congregated at the front of the house, on the main street. From here, I could see at least three, though there’d been more when I’d looked from the kitchen window.
One of the mages, who was tossing his fireball in the air, caught sight of us, his blue gaze going bright with interest. We had to get away from the house so his fire wouldn’t light up our home. I couldn’t bear to lose it.
“Shield!” I said.
Steaming noon sun burned down on us as Ana threw up her shield, a shimmering barrier about seven feet tall and four feet wide. Sticking side by side, we darted out from behind the house, staying between it and the buggy, not wanting to draw their fire toward either of our only possessions.
The mage hurled his flame at us, clearly not able to see the shield or not caring. It exploded against the luminescent surface that protected us, a shower of sparks raining onto the dirt.
The surprise and anger in his eyes confirmed what I’d suspected—he hadn’t seen the shield. Only a few supernaturals seemed to be able to.
I shifted to the edge of the shield, just enough that I could send a sonic boom toward him. It exploded out of me, blasting through the air to collide with his legs. The shock reverberated up his body, making him shake like a rag doll in a tornado.
He crashed to the ground, unable to even shout.
I winced, a little bit horrified by my own power. Sure, he was here to kill us and I wasn’t about to let that happen. But I was used to using my magic against monsters and inanimate objects. Seeing it hurt a person like that was…disturbing.
A blast of blue energy plowed into Ana’s shield, driving the worry from my mind.
“Only twenty feet to go,” I murmured, edging toward the buggy.
Ana strained to keep her shield up. When a mage approached with his flame, I raised my hands to blast him, but something plowed into me from behind. Electricity shot up my spine, pain tearing through me. I crashed to the ground on my front, skidding on the dirt. Beside me, Ana sprawled out.
Bells clanged in my ears. I blinked, trying to clear my vision. Panic surged as I played dead, surveying our surroundings. Ana was out cold, prone on the dirt next to me. She’d taken the brunt of the hit. Electric shock, I was pretty sure. Painful, but at least it hadn’t been fire.
The bastards were slowly approaching, their gazes riveted to us. Their hands no longer glowed with magic—they probably wanted to poke us with sticks to see if we we
re really dead. Which bought me a few precious seconds.
It felt like time slowed. Adrenaline raced through me. This was it—I had only seconds and we were surrounded.
I scrambled to my feet. Pain twisted my muscles as I grabbed Ana’s arm and dragged her limp form across the dirt, heaving with everything I had. Before the mages could power up their magic, we were behind the buggy, Ana still out cold.
Unfortunately, the protected side of the buggy was also the side that had been damaged by the salt monster. The damaged poison-coated spikes bent over the door, locking it closed. I could carefully climb up and over, slipping into the cockpit and driving off, but there was no way I could drag Ana over the spikes without the Ravener poison getting her.
I shook Ana. “Get up!”
She lay still as a rock.
“Get up!”
Still nothing.
Dang it. I had no more time. I could run for it solo, but I’d rather throw myself onto the Ravener poisoned spikes than leave Ana behind.
“Come oooouuut!” one of the mages sang.
His tone made me want to pull his tongue out.
Panting, I peered around the edge of the buggy. Four mages approached— two with glowing blue hands, and two with fire. Though the electric shock blasts would hurt like hell, it was the fire mages who really had me worried. One well-placed fireball could blow the buggy—and us—to smithereens if it hit the engine.
“One shot,” I muttered. That was all I had to take them all out, and they stood between me and my house, four of them about to fire.
I swallowed hard, calling on my magic and letting it grow inside me. With a desperate prayer to whatever fates were listening, I darted out to hurl it at the mages.
But a fifth mage—he must have crept up behind the other because I hadn’t seen him—threw a blue potion bomb toward us. I heaved my sonic boom at the mage, aiming for his blue leather jacket and hoping to stop his potion bomb. The force of the magic exploding out of me made me stumble backward.
The sonic boom that I’d thrown crashed into my attackers, colliding with them like a freight train.
They flew backward, their bodies slamming into the wooden wall of my house. Along with the rest of my sonic boom. It crashed into the wall, sending wood and glass flying. The house exploded into thousands of pieces of wood and glass. It rained down like a terrible hail.
Too much magic.
The four attackers were dead now. But so was my house.
Hot tears pricked my eyes. I’d expected that maybe they would trash our house. Not that I’d do it.
That place had been a hell hole, but it’d been our hell hole.
I stepped backward, horrified. Something crunched underfoot. I looked down—shards of the blue potion bomb.
Oh, shit.
And my side was wet and cold. I touched it, then raised my damp hand to my nose. A blue potion gleamed on my fingertips and smelled like sweet, rotten fish.
An impossible, terrible smell that sent terror streaking through me.
I’d heard of this—the poison that Ricketts used when he was done with you. It’d kill you in weeks unless you went to him to get the antidote. Most people didn’t even bother to go get it, because whatever he’d do to you when he got you…
Fear chilled my skin.
We should have paid him the money we owed.
I turned to Ana, who was still sprawled in the dirt.
Shards of blue glass were scattered around her, and her shirt was wet, too.
“No!” I fell to my knees at her side.
She’d been hit!
The potion bomb must have avoided my sonic boom and exploded on the ground between us, splattering us both. I’d been so obsessed with our destroyed house that I hadn’t noticed.
I shook Ana’s shoulder, throat closed tight with fear. “Wake up!”
She was limp as a dishrag. Frantic, I felt for a pulse at her neck. It was steady and strong, thank fates.
I peered around the buggy. My house was a pile of rubble, so I could see the front street that had previously been obscured. There were six other mages, all of whom turned to look toward us.
My heart thundered in my ears as I called on my magic, only to find the well empty.
I’d used it all up.
Shit. Sweat broke out on my skin. Shit, shit, shit.
We were rats in a trap, and I was just as scared. All the danger and monsters I’d faced out in Death Valley were nothing compared to this.
Oh, man, we needed to run for it. We had to find an antidote to this poison that didn’t involve Ricketts. Above all, we couldn’t be captured and brought to him. We’d be defenseless.
But we couldn’t run. There was no way I could haul Ana into the buggy without the Ravener poison getting her.
But what if I went from the front? That was slightly shielded.
I pulled a bandana out of my pocket and grabbed up some of the glass shards from the potion bomb. We needed to identify the exact poison if we made it out of here. Then I reached down to grab her arm, and pulled. I managed to get her to the front of the buggy, but it was impossible to haul her over the hood.
My strength, along with my magic, had waned so much that we were now sitting ducks. Terror tightened my throat.
A flash of movement caught my eye.
I glanced toward the street. Four more people had arrived. Three were pretty normal, but one was…
Holy shit.
The fourth one—a man well over six feet tall—had a magical signature that smacked me in the face like a wrecking ball. He was danger and violence and power. And hot as hell, with dark hair and blazing green eyes set over sharp cheekbones.
I shivered, my mouth suddenly dry.
If I thought Ricketts’s goons were scary, they were nothing compared to this man.
Then he turned and looked straight at me.
Chapter Two
Well, now I knew we were gonna die.
If this was Ricketts’s finishing team…
We were done for.
A terrible thought flashed in my mind.
Oh, hell.
Were these the people we’d been hiding from all these years? The reason my mother had run with us after they’d attacked our childhood home?
It was more than possible. Since Ricketts had decided to make an example of us, he likely would have cut the magic that fed our concealment charms. Which would make it possible for the bogeyman to find us.
And this guy could definitely be the bogeyman we’d feared.
He turned from me, his gaze sweeping over my assailants, who looked at him like he was the devil come to Earth to collect on their sins. The man—Sexy McScary—pointed to the three farthest from me.
His companions jumped into action, moving so quickly that they were obviously pros. For the first time, I actually noticed them as more than just faceless sidekicks. Two men, both about my age and tall and lanky, darted toward two of Ricketts’s men. Then they disappeared into the air.
One moment they were there, and the next, they were gone.
The two fire mages that they’d been running toward suddenly turned their magic on themselves, lighting a massive fire and leaping into it.
Oh, hell no!
Whatever those two new guys could do… I wanted no part of it.
I turned my gaze toward the woman who was with them.
She was tall and slim, with short platinum hair and icy gray eyes. She sprinted for the last of the three men, raising her palms and shooting a narrow jet of water at the man. It plowed into his chest, then came out the other side, tinged pink with blood. He toppled onto his back.
My stomach turned.
Holy fates, she could shoot water so fast that it pierced a person straight through. What the heck was she? I’d never even heard of a power like that.
But if I’d thought she was scary, it was nothing compared to Sexy McScary. Whose nickname suddenly seemed way too inane for him. He was violence personified.
&nb
sp; He stalked toward the last three mages, black smoke rolling out from his feet with every step. The earth seemed to shake with the hoofbeats of a thousand war stallions. Visions of battle and blood flashed in my mind’s eye. The three mages just stood and stared at him, as entranced as I was. Probably also frozen with fear.
Finally, they seemed to shake themselves out of it, faces pale and hands trembling. They raised their palms, which glowed with fire and blue electric magic. As a group, they hurled their weapons at the man who stalked toward them.
The terrifying warrior was twenty feet from them, and entirely unarmed. As if in slow motion, the fireballs and electric energy flew toward him. He raised one muscular arm, and an ancient-looking round shield appeared. The fire and electricity plowed into it.
He didn’t even falter, just kept charging toward them, picking up speed. Faster and faster.
The mages had powered up more fireballs and electricity by the time he neared them, but they never had a chance to deploy their weapons. The man hurled the shield off his arm like a boomerang.
It flew through the air, turning as it reached the mages and slicing off their heads. My jaw dropped as their heads flew into the air, blood spurting. The shield turned again, flying back to the man, who caught it.
The bodies of the mages collapsed in the dirt. I sank hard onto my butt.
Fear like I’d never known raced through me, chilling my bones until I thought they might crack. Had he helped us or cleared the way to get to us? If it was the latter…
I can’t fight them.
I stood literally no chance against a warrior like that. I couldn’t fight any of them, not with my magic depleted. I can’t do it.
Beside me, Ana groaned, then lay still once again.
Shit.
Can’t wasn’t going to get us anywhere. Ana needed me. And the fear in my chest drove me to action, as it always did.
Fight first, questions later.
I swallowed hard and climbed shakily to my feet.
The warrior turned toward me, along with his three compatriots. His blue eyes landed on me, and he approached. The black smoke no longer rolled out from beneath his feet and the thunder of warhorse hooves had disappeared, but he was still in fight mode.
