by Cherry Adair
“Look around you. It’s already started. This warehouse is filled to the rafters with medicines, food, and fresh drinking water. The aid you told your people hadn’t arrived. And what are those ships out there filled with? Let me guess? Gold? Emeralds? Weapons? In fact, you’re already skimming off the resources as fast as the poor bastards you’re killing off can supply them to you.”
Abi grabbed his arm. “Join with me, Simon. Together we could make more money than you could ever imagine.”
“Blood money.” Simon shook him off. “No thanks. I work for the good guys.”
Stepping back, Abi threw up his hands. “You’re an idealist. Not everything is black or white.”
“You’re either one of the bad guys, or one of the good guys, and I’m afraid you and your partner are the bad guys.”
“What are you going to do, old friend?” Abi asked. “Kill me?”
“No one is killing my asset,” Joubert’s familiar silky voice inserted as he materialized beside Abi.
In his arms he carried Kess’s limp form.
Christ. The protective spell he’d cast around her had failed. Failure hadn’t been a fucking option.
Bongani quickly stepped between them. “Do not do anything…foolish,” he pleaded, eyes wild as he looked from one man to the other.
Simon shoved him out of the way. Kess was close enough to touch, but he forced himself to focus on Joubert. He could see her well enough in his three-sixty vision, and what he saw made his heart clench. She’d clearly been beaten. Rage roared through Simon’s blood as he saw her pale, battered face. He refused to allow himself to panic over the amount of blood on her skin and clothing. He couldn’t afford to drop his guard. Couldn’t afford to be careless.
Instead of yanking her into his own arms to check her pulse and make sure she was alive, he leveled Joubert with a murderous look, and said with icy calm, “Put her down. Do it carefully and do it now.”
“Ooo. I’m sooo scared,” Joubert mocked in a falsetto. He opened his arms, his black leather coat looking like bat wings as Kess floated limply in the charged air between them. Long, pale strands of Joubert’s hair tethered him to Kess’s slack body. A malevolent spider with an innocent butterfly caught in his sinister web.
The mock humor slid off the wizard’s face. “You’re an amusing diversion, Blackthorne, but not much of an adversary.”
“Well, hell. I hate to disappoint,” Simon said sarcastically as he attempted to throw Joubert back, away from Kess and out of range of whatever the fuck was going to happen next. Didn’t work. And if he didn’t have enough power for even that…
Joubert’s laugh echoed in the cavernous warehouse. “I doubt you’re even a Half wizard, Blackthorne. Maybe a quarter? Possibly not a wizard at all. An amateur magician perhaps? Perform at any kids’ birthday parties lately?”
Simon’s blood chilled as he tried to figure out how to overcome his power limitations now. When it really counted. The last time he’d confronted Joubert he’d at least had some power. Now, apparently he had none.
Zip. Nada. Fucked.
A T-FLAC operative versus a dozen or more armed tangos was part of his training, and doable. But even a team of operatives against a wizard with Joubert’s level of power was suicide.
In other words, he was up shit’s creek without the proverbial paddle. Unless he could find a way to harness Joubert’s powers. All he’d need was a small gap, a few seconds to pummel the guy for what he’d done to Kess, then he’d kill him for what he’d done to the people of Mallaruza.
Then he flashed back on what Kess had said the other day. “You wouldn’t be less than who you are now. You wouldn’t lose your job, would you? You wouldn’t lose your friends, or your T-FLACy skills, or your good looks.”
Adrenaline jolted through him. If he was going to pull this off, he had to get close to Joubert. Not just close but practically glued to the bastard. A power steal, assuming he could do it at all in his present, weakened state, required up close and personal. “Scared to fuck with someone with my limited capabilities, Joubert?”
The other wizard flicked a finger. Simon went head over heels backward through the air, slamming with a reverberating thwack! into a pile of crates thirty yards away. Half a dozen half-ton containers toppled to the floor, spilling their contents in a jumble of shattering glass bottles, papers, and pills. Joubert was instantly there watching him slide to the floor. Exactly what Simon had wanted. Joubert away from Kess.
Did Joubert have any other superpower other than multiplication? Simon wondered. Could he get the other man to multiply his wizard footprint to disperse his power between a dozen or more mirror images of himself? If so, that would weaken the effect of his powers. Maybe.
Simon picked himself up off the hard cement floor, dusting himself off. “Learned that one in wizard nursery school—” He suddenly felt a weak surge of his own power kick in. That’ll work.
Teleporting instantly behind Joubert, Simon cupped his hands, fingers and thumbs bent and close together. He struck Joubert simultaneously over both ears. The ten-pound force made Joubert scream in agony as both eardrums burst.
The mild concussion the action caused gave Simon just enough time to jettison Joubert to the ceiling sixty feet over his head, then hold him there. His power didn’t waver, but it wasn’t nearly strong enough to finish the son of a bitch off. How long could he sustain this? A minute? An hour? Another second? Simon had no choice but to act. Fast.
He shot up to the ceiling, hovering in front of Joubert, whose yard-long hair haloed around his head, waving beneath the slowly rotating fan blades as if he were underwater. “I didn’t want you getting lonely up here,” Simon taunted.
With his three-sixty vision he observed that far below, Abi had pulled Kess to the floor and was helping her stand. He’d deal with Abi’s complicity later. For now, he had to focus his full attention on the task at hand. Killing Joubert.
Taurus in hand, Simon got off a round of shots that had Joubert dancing like a puppet on a string. He slammed in another clip and kept the bastard moving.
It was hot near the ceiling, despite the fans. Joubert was sweating, weighed down by his heavy leather coat.
Simon racked the slide mechanism, the trigger pull cocked the striker, releasing to fire a cartridge in one continuous motion. The barrage of bullets forced Joubert higher and higher, his leather coat swirling around his legs as he tried to get away. Fuck. Joubert had a protection spell. The bullets weren’t doing anything more than keeping him moving. Bullets ricocheted off, darting around the room, recoiling off the walls.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
If he was too busy to fight back, that would definitely work to Simon’s advantage. He was putting his faith in Joubert’s mammoth ego, certain the powerful wizard wouldn’t keep dancing around, dodging bullets.
He wiped sweat out of his eyes without releasing the trigger.
He had enough juice to sustain levitation but not much else. As he continued to fire, he was angling the other wizard toward the rotating fans ten feet above his head.
“Lonely?” Joubert asked with a sneer. “Hardly. I’m growing bored.” Joubert did a perfectly executed somersault as if from a diving board and cannonballed into Simon from above with the speed of a bullet. Simon vaguely heard Kess’s scream as he and Joubert went end over end locked in mortal combat midair.
For those few minutes Simon used their hold on each other and Joubert’s powers instead of his own to levitate. He’d breeched Joubert’s protection shield. The two of them were skin to skin. In roughly the same fashion he transferred power to Nomis, Simon sucked as much of Joubert’s abilities from his vile core as he could and sent them to the only vessel he knew he could trust.
He heard Kess give a little yelp. Grabbing up more spare power for himself, Simon smashed the butt of the Taurus into the other man’s cheekbone with a satisfying crunch of bone. Joubert’s eyes grew wide and his face turned bright red as he realized what Simon had done.
“Even after your mugging, I still have more power in my little finger than you have in your whole body.” Joubert jettisoned himself away, leaving Simon to free-fall forty feet, then at the last possible second, when Simon could smell the dust on the floor, swooped him up and propelled him in a dizzying spiral, back to the ceiling.
Simon latched onto a steel beam, and swung there, dizzy. Shitfuckdamn.
Joubert angled his body and swooped back to the ground, heading directly toward Kess.
The air was thick with a medicinal smell of the supplies upended earlier, and it was dark enough now that visibility was compromised. “Kess!” Simon called. “Shoot the bastard!”
“With what?” she yelled back, clearly panicked.
“Close your eyes and imagine Joubert slamming into those boxes at the other end of the warehouse.”
“Why?”
“For chrissake, just do it. Soon would be good.”
“I told you I’d handle everything. You were just supposed to get elected. That was your only fucking job,” Joubert shouted at Abi.
“I know. I know. I thought the Hureni had brought in a Half to help them…”
“My boys were having a bit of sport. That’s all.”
Simon watched Kess falter as she tried to walk. There wasn’t enough light to see her face, but he could picture her fury and indignation. Christ, he loved her courage and convictions, but not now. Not when Joubert was moving in her direction.
“You consider the murder of millions of people sport?” she demanded.
“Not now, Kess, sweetheart. Focus.” He tested his powers as one would a tongue against an aching tooth. Bargaining. Praying…Nothing. His powers were—gone. Completely gone as he swung from a steel beam sixty feet above the floor.
Not a spark. Not a hint. He had to get to her. Now.
“Shazam!” Kess yelled.
She was wide-eyed as she watched Joubert fly past Simon, hit the wall, and then slide limply to the floor.
Simon smiled as Kess lowered him in a jerky descent to stand beside her. “Shazam?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I’m new at this wizard thing. I thought maybe you had to say something when you were wizarding. It’s not like I know the rules.”
“The only rule you need to know is,” Simon said as he slammed a new clip in his weapon while jogging toward Joubert’s disoriented form. “Do not let Joubert lay so much as a finger on you. One touch and he can reclaim his powers.”
“I don’t need full powers to beat you, Blackthorne,” Joubert sneered as he stood, shrugging to adjust his coat.
Simon trained the gun on Joubert at the same time the other man tossed a fireball in his direction. When bullet met fire there was a loud, bright explosion, followed by a shower of white-hot sparkles as the fireball disintegrated.
“Son of a bitch,” Joubert growled, twisting his hand in preparation to toss another one in Simon’s direction.
Before he could manage to launch a second fireball, Simon fired another shot. This one went right through Joubert’s palm.
He looked down at his hand, then back at Simon. “I’m going to enjoy killing you, Blackthorne!”
“Ditto, dickhead.”
Simon spun around, hitting Joubert squarely on the side of the head with his heel, knocking him to his knees. Joubert retaliated by thrusting out his leg and kicking Simon’s feet out from under him. He hit the ground with a jarring thud.
Rolling onto his side to avoid the glinting blade as Joubert’s knife sliced through the air, Simon trained the Taurus on the other man and prepared for the kill shot.
Before he could squeeze the trigger, the gun grew hot, burning his palms. Hell. He tossed the weapon aside as Joubert turned the black metal to a glowing, molten red.
“Didn’t your mother teach you it can be dangerous to play with guns?” Joubert taunted.
Simon used what little power he had left in an attempt to fling the knife from Joubert’s hand. The attempt failed. He’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.
Arching his back, Simon snapped up on his heels, then rose to his full height. Shoulders lowered, he rushed Joubert, managing to grab the other man’s wrists before bashing him into the wall. Digging his thumb into the open wound in Joubert’s palm, he pounded the knife hand against the rough cement until he heard the knife fall to the ground.
He was going to enjoy every second of killing this bastard. He wanted to watch as life drained out of Joubert’s body. Simon lifted his arm to press it against Joubert’s throat, but instead, he found himself falling forward into the wall. Joubert was gone.
In his three-sixty vision, Simon watched as a snarling, smug Joubert materialized on the opposite side of the warehouse and pulled Kess against his chest, imprisoning her against his body with one arm.
“You lose,” he yelled, his head tilted back as a string of electricity passed from Kess to Joubert. A reverse power trail.
Damn.
“I think I’ll fuck her before I kill her slowly,” Joubert said as he placed a quick kiss on the top of Kess’s head.
“Think again,” Kess said, lifting her foot and stomping on the wizard’s instep.
Joubert didn’t react. His lifeless stare was fixed on Simon as, Kess clutched in his arms, he ran balls out across the warehouse, leaping and levitating over the spilled contents and overturned boxes.
Not winded, he spun around in the air. “How about my lovely designer dengue? Want to see this pretty thing bleed from every orifice? Want to hear her beg to be put out of misery? I’m a generous guy. You’re welcome to fight for her, pussy-boy.”
Simon’s body felt like ice. Yanking the Ka-Bar from the holster on his thigh, he ran. Without the power to levitate, he had to push his burning muscles to the limit. Sweat poured from his face. Blood runneled down his left arm, dripping through his clenched fingers. But the knife in his right hand was dry and steady.
He’d never been in the same time and place with Nomis, but there wasn’t time to anticipate what the fuck could or would happen if they were. He didn’t need power to call him. Nomis appeared far ahead, his corporeal body between Kess and Joubert.
“Want her?” Joubert threw Kess at Nomis, and they both stumbled. Nomis didn’t pause as he raised his weapon and pulled the trigger and the double action pumped out bullets faster than the eye could see. It was so dark now that Simon could barely make out the four figures ahead. But Joubert’s laughter was clear as a fucking bell. He hung on, willing his power to return.
“Stop shooting. Stop shooting! He’s going to save my people,” Abi shouted, raising the S&W .45 auto to return fire.
Kess did a quarter turn, but she wasn’t nearly fast enough. Nomis swooped in, grabbed her arm, and swung her violently out of the way. She landed several yards across the floor on her belly as Nomis’s weapon discharged. Abi crumpled to the floor. Simon couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive.
“You have no powers. How the fuck did you get here?” Joubert demanded, as he materialized a weapon and returned fire. Nomis was corporeal, but the bullets went right through him. He fired a succession of rounds directly into the wizard, but Joubert’s renewed protective spell surrounded him, and nothing penetrated. Bullets dropped off his coat like marbles from a bag.
In a swirl of leather, Joubert yanked Kess off the floor, pulling her against him, and rose in a rush to the ceiling.
Simon followed.
“She’s gonna make a big mess when she lands,” he said with a rough laugh. He held Kess’s body suspended over the abyss with one hand. Simon saw the terrified glint in her eyes the second before Joubert opened his hand and let go.
Seventeen
Kess squeezed her eyes shut. All she could think was that it was going to hurt like hell when she splattered on that cement any second.
Love you, Simon.
&nb
sp; Her entire body jolted as someone plucked her out of thin air. A second later her eyes jolted open as she found herself squeezed against a hard chest. Automatically she struggled. Bucking and kicking, lashing out with hands and elbows, and trying to bite.
“Shh. Shh,” Simon whispered against her hair. “I’ve got you.”
Thank you, thank you. For a moment she was overwhelmed with visceral relief. Then she realized what it meant that Simon had caught her in her free fall. “You have your powers back! Quick. Put me down right now and go and kill that bastard,” Kess instructed breathlessly. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely speak.
Simon chuckled. “On my way. Here.” He handed her off to Nomis. “Protective spell locked and loaded. This time it’ll hold. Take good care of he—Holy shit!—did you feel that?”
Hard to miss the enormous surge of electricity passing between Simon and Nomis; the air around the three of them lit up like the Fourth of July.
“Go!” she urged as Nomis gently set her on her feet. “Oh, wait—Here.” She shoved the gun she’d grabbed from Bongani’s body at Simon.
He pressed a fleeting kiss to her mouth, then soared away. “That is amazingly fabulous,” she said, watching him—fly. “And amazingly—well, creepy.”
Nomis was holding her against his body. She could feel him. It almost felt like Simon. But not. He was neither warm nor responsive. All his power was pouring into Simon.
“Good. That’s the way we all like it. Keep focused, okay?”
She stayed where she was, Nomis’s arms securely around her waist, his chest supporting her back. Weird. Very weird. But it didn’t frighten her at all. Which was just as weird, she thought as Simon and Joubert crashed into each other in a tangle of arms and legs and black leather high over her head.
She winced at the incredibly loud noises of the sparks and flares coming off their bodies. Every blow, every kick, every shot fired caused a different color explosion until the cavernous warehouse was filled with swirling smoke and the smell of…rotten eggs?
