She doesn’t move, but her twin does. He lifts a hand and ball of fire hurtles toward my location. I jump to the side, tucking into a roll. Fire smashes into the spot I was just standing, burning through the sheetrock, then disappearing in a flash.
"You were born for a reason, one you don't understand yet, and one your mother and father had no way of knowing when they performed that spell."
Her twin twitches his hand and another fireball appears out of nowhere, hurtling toward me faster than the last. I dodge again, but just barely. The smell of singed hair fills my nose.
“You could be faster, Olivia,” she taunts.
Her brother lifts his hand, I brace myself to move, but nothing happens. She smirks. I smell something burning, and risk glancing behind me, but still see nothing.
A breeze pushes my hair against my neck. I leap away from it on instinct and a pillar of fire shoots down from the ceiling. The carpet curls up from the sheer heat of the fire that is intense even from a few feet away.
“Bravo, Olivia!” She claps in excitement with a bright smile. “Your potential is undeniable.”
Her eyes are bright, and the smile on her face seems genuine.
"Why did you kill my mother? Just for stealing your shitty book?” I ask. The question has been weighing on me since she attacked me in the parking garage.
"I already told you, she killed herself. She told lie after lie before we could even ask her a question. She was dead within minutes and there was nothing we could do to stop it.”
“And you bribed someone to fake a death certificate?" I ask, rage building in my chest. The stolen magic sparking along my whole body.
"Yes, we had to end the searching. The case had gone cold. At the time, we thought the detective searching for her was simply trying to earn a promotion, or curry favor with her coven. It was simple enough to end it quietly with a little paperwork."
I lift my hands and shove magic at both of them. Pure white crackling bolts of electricity leap from my hands and shoot across the room. The smell of ozone fills my nose.
The twin lifts his hands and a wall of flame shoots up between us, blocking the magic I’ve just cast. The electricity spreads out like a net when it hits the wall of flame. The opposing magics twist together in a shower of sparks and fire. I feel the collision down to my bones, it’s almost enough to bring me to my knees.
The flames suddenly grow, leaping around the net of electricity. I feel wind on my face. I push, but I don’t think I can outlast them, not with both of them working together. I falter just for a moment, but their magic overwhelms mine in that instant. I’m thrown back, my head bouncing off the floor.
Stars spark across my vision and I feel like I might throw up, but I struggle onto my knees.
“Perhaps you just need us to raise the stakes,” the woman says. She nods at her brother and he kicks in the door next to him. My hearts drops into my stomach as I realize who’s room that is he.
Her twin walks out, dragging a completely unconscious Patrick by his arm.
“Get away from him,” I say, my hands curling into fists and my magic surging up inside of me again. I won’t let them hurt him. With shaking legs, I rise to my feet.
“Oh, is this one a friend?” The woman asks, tilting her head. “That makes it so much better.”
The twin drops Patrick’s arm and they both step away from him.
“Come and get him, Olivia. See if you can save your friend before Logan turns him to ash.”
She lifts her hand and I sprint toward Patrick. Flames are already rushing toward him and her twin, Logan, has a strange expression on his face bordering on glee. I reach in my pocket and grab the potion I’ve been saving for the right moment. This is it.
I wrap my hand around Patrick’s arm and throw the potion with my other hand. The vial shatters on the floor right in front of the rushing flames which disappear in a pop, fizzling out with no oxygen to fuel them.
I drag Patrick with me, running backward as fast as I can. Oxygen rushes back into the area and the flames charge toward us once again. I grit my teeth and raise my hands and push. I don’t hold anything back.
My magic collides with Logan’s once again, but I don’t falter this time. The woman’s magic joins his, battering against the sparking net of electric magic that is barely holding back the flames. Inch by inch, they push forward. I stand over Patrick, who is still dead asleep, and hold my ground. But I know I won’t be able to last forever.
I hear a door open and slow steps. I glance back and see that it’s Javier. He stumbles down the hall, his eyes half open, using the wall to support him. He stops directly behind me.
My arms are shaking. My magic is draining out of me like a river while Logan only seems to be growing stronger with his sister feeding the flames.
Javier can barely stand. He won’t be able to help, he can’t even drag Patrick away.
“Javier, feed me,” I gasp out. “I need your magic.”
He looks at me, eyes widening.
“Please,” I beg. “I can’t hold much longer.”
Javier squares his shoulder, then bites down on his own wrist.
“Drink…Olivia…” he whispers as she reaches around and holds his wrist in front of my mouth.
I sink my teeth into his wrist and drink. I give into the dark, hungry thing inside of me. The part that has ached for more since the first time I stole magic.
The magic that keeps Javier alive is different from a witch’s magic. It’s cold and forceful, almost sentient. It’s very much like the thing inside of me. I want it.
Lydia must have told him about her suspicions. I’ll be upset later, but for now, I just want to survive. I pull it inside of me, letting the cold magic curl up around the fading electricity inside of me. I take and I take, wishing I could just rip it from him like I did Novak.
Javier shudders and sags against me. I can see the limits of his power fast approaching. I rip my teeth from his arm before I’m tempted to take even more. Blood drips down my chin and I lick my lips, aching for every drop.
The electric magic is still wavering, almost completely drained from me, but there is another kind of power surging through me now. I send one last push of magic against the wall of flame, then charge forward.
My legs pump faster than they ever have. Wind whistles past my ears and it seems like everything slows down around me. The flames move like butterfly wings, lazy and slow, as I run straight through them. The fire witch’s face doesn’t register shock until I’m already in front of him, my fist connecting with his jaw with a crunch.
His eyes roll back in his head as he flies backward, slamming into a door frame with a loud thunk. His sister screeches and turns on me, but I dart to the side of her gust of wind. I kick her knee, bone popping and cracking as it gives way. She falls to the side and I punch her in the side of the head. Pain shoots through my hand.
She goes down on one knee but punches me in the stomach. I grunt in pain, but block the second punch, catching her wrist.
“There’s so much you don’t understand,” she says, looking up at me with wide eyes.
“I don’t care,” I say, shoving her back and kicking her in the side of the head. She flops to the ground, unconscious.
Javier is dragging himself across the floor, teeth bared, toward Patrick who is still lying prone in the hallway. Patrick’s eyes are twitching, but he still can’t wake up.
I spot the gun the the air witch had tossed away from me earlier, and grab it. The metal is still hot to the touch. I stand over her, thinking of my mother’s laugh, and the way she smiled as she taught me to brew with the magic I had stolen from her.
I could reach down and steal this woman’s magic. Turn her inside out and take everything. But I don't want any part of her in me alongside my mother's magic. She is filth in comparison.
I pull the trigger. The sound deafens me as the bullet rips through her head. Her body twitches, and stills. I walk over to her brother, his eyes flutter
open just in time to widen as I point the gun at him as well. I barely hear this shot, my ears still ringing from the first.
I walk into the hallway, my blood pumping, my anger and my hunger unsatisfied. The slide is locked back on the gun, it’s out of bullets. I drop it and walk toward the stairs when I hear a crash.
Reilly flies into the front door, cracking it on impact. He struggles to his feet, but his movements are sluggish. The sun still hasn’t set.
The witch runs forward. Reilly’s shoulders are slumped and he’s blinking like he can’t quite see. I could let the witch kill him. I could just run away.
Instead, I dart downstairs, everything slowing again. The bearded man is running at Reilly. I step into his path and punch him in the chest. I feel his sternum crack. He grunts and coughs, blood splattering my face.
I swing again, but he blocks the punch this time. He’s insanely strong. Stronger than me still, but I’m faster. I punch over and over again, driving him backward.
He misses a block and I wrap my hand around his throat. Summoning the last of the electric magic, I send a surge of it through him. His muscles all contract at once and he falls to the ground, unconscious.
I stand there, panting and shaking, drained. I can’t help looking back at Reilly. He’s watching me with a smile on his face.
20
He rolls up onto his feet showing little of the previous exhaustion.
“When Patrick told me you had used Finding magic, I thought he was lying, trying to throw me off with some half-baked plan. Lydia though, she I believed.”
“What are you talking about?” My mouth feels strange as I talk. Something sharp pricks at the inside of my mouth. I prod it gently with my tongue and find a fang. Smaller than a vampire’s, but definitely there.
I dig my nails into my palm to keep from reacting, but I’m sure my heart is going crazy. I can almost hear it.
“The welts on your arm. The way you found Patrick when no one else could, and Aaron Hall turns up unable to cast the simplest of Finding spells.” He stalks toward me, the glow of the sun setting in a riot of reds and oranges visible through the windows behind him. “The electric magic that sparks on your fingertips every time you get angry.”
I step backward, edging around the bearded man’s prone figure.
“The healing magic was the first hint. As soon as I started paying attention, the rest became so, painfully, obvious,” Reilly finishes with a smile that makes heat stir in my gut and fear twist in my chest. I am one hundred percent fucked.
“So what now, you’re going to drag me to the council? Or are you just going to kill me?” My muscles tense, ready for the slightest move even though I know he’s far too fast for me to defend against.
“Not the council, not yet. My sire will meet you first.”
Reilly crouches down by the bearded man, takes his head and twists. His necks cracks sickeningly as it breaks.
“Why did you kill him, we could have questioned him—”
“He was a loose end,” Reilly says, wiping his hands on his pants as he stands. “You’re mine now Olivia, I don’t want anyone else knowing what you can do until I am ready.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I bite out, my hands shaking at my side. “I’ll die first.”
It’s barely dawn, Reilly could still be weak. I shift on my feet, trying to decide if I can move fast enough to kill him. I blink and he is pushing me back against the wall, his body warm against mine and face inches away. He wraps his hands around my wrists and holds me still.
“You can’t kill me, Olivia,” he breathes. “If you try, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
“I doubt that,” I growl at him, struggling against his grip. Javier’s power is still pulsing through me, but all my other magic is drained.
Reilly grins, all teeth. “You will cooperate or I will kill every single member of this clan, down to the last necker.”
Over his shoulder, I see Patrick standing on the top of the stairs, tears slipping out of his eyes. He mouths, I’m sorry, and slips back down the hallway.
I had hoped I would never live to see this day come. Every warning my mother gave me is ringing in my head. I can almost see her out of the corner of my eye, saying I told you so. I let people get too close. I let them see too much.
I have to find a way to get away from Reilly, and I will. Even if it means killing him. It will be hard though, especially with the lives of everyone I care about hanging in the balance. Anger at them, and at myself, is swirling through me. I don’t know how to feel, but I know I’m not willing to let them die, even if they have betrayed me. I should have run while I could.
Reilly steps away from me but I stay pressed against the wall.
“Pack enough for a week. We’re leaving early. I’ll have Javier send the rest of your things to my clanhouse.”
Brunson and Hawking burst into the house, guns drawn. They take in the destruction. Leslie’s too still body, and the bearded man laying in the foyer.
“There are two more bodies upstairs. They’re part of some kind of cult,” I say hoarsely.
Hawking holsters her gun and sprints upstairs. Brunson hesitates, eyes flicking between me and Reilly.
“Everything alright?” He asks, finger on the trigger of his gun.
Zachary knows me well, too well I suppose. He senses the tension that Hawking didn’t. Reilly looks back at me, and I know there’s only one answer I can give that won’t result in Zachary’s death. I’ve been wrong a lot recently, but I was right about one thing. Reilly did find a way to steal my soul.
“Everything’s fine,” I say, gesturing to the chaos around us.” Just peachy.”
Brunson huffs out a chuckle. “I see your point.”
I can hear Hawking talking upstairs, saying something to Javier in soothing tones. I look up, brows pinched together. I shouldn’t be able to hear that. I guess I took more from Javier than just speed and strength.
“Did they say if they had taken Maybelle again?” Brunson asks.
“They didn’t,” I say, lifting my shoulder in a half shrug. “She and Gerard ran away. They asked me to go with them, but I couldn’t get to them in time.”
“You were going to run?” Brunson asks confused. “Why?”
I wrap my arms around myself. “They were obviously targeting me. I just wanted to keep everyone out of harm’s way.”
“You could have told someone!” Brunson says, voice rising, but not quite to a shout as he shoves his gun back into the holster on his side. “We could have helped you, or even prevented this.”
Javier chooses that moment to walk downstairs, followed closely by Hawking. He heads straight for Leslie, ignoring us. He scoops her up, careful to support her head, then turns to Reilly.
“Will you help me turn her?”
The room quiets as we all look to Reilly for his response.
“If I do, she must return to my clan. I will be her sire.”
Javier nods, but his face falls. He cared for Leslie, depended on her. I know this is my fault. If I hadn’t taken so much, he could have turned her himself.
Reilly walks toward the parlor, motioning for Javier to follow. Hawking, Brunson, and I stay in the foyer. Watching would feel like intruding.
“I need to call this in,” Hawking says.
Brunson nods. “Go ahead.”
Hawking steps outside, phone to her ear.
Brunson looks at me.
“I know it isn’t much comfort right now, but we have solid information on Martinez. We can find the rest of this cult too. We won’t let this happen again.”
He’s so earnest, just like the Zachary I knew growing up.
“Reilly said I’d be helping with some raids. Where are we going first?”
“Arizona.”
The land of cactus, desert, and scorpions.
“Sounds great,” I mutter, slipping down the wall.
I can still feel Reilly’s hands around my wrists, trapping me. I rub a
t them, but there’s no escaping the shit I’ve gotten myself into. Not this time.
The story continues in Blood Magic…
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Also by Stephanie Foxe
Witch’s Bite Series
Borrowed Magic - Book One
Price of Magic - Book Two
Blood Magic - Coming Soon!
About the Author
Stephanie Foxe was born and raised near Houston, TX. She grew up playing in the pond and woods in her backyard, and devouring every book she could get her hands on.
Her teen years were spent transitioning slowly from reader, to writer. She spent most evenings on the phone with her cousin writing the first few pages to many books that would never be finished.
Her adult years were spent toiling away at a corporate job until she heard about a little writing project called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). From there, the idea of writing a book went from a fanciful dream to a finished manuscript. Her first book was written, and Stephanie was addicted.
Now, she has plans to publish everything from paranormal fantasy to science fiction.
One book at a time.
www.stephaniefoxe.com
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Price of Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Witch's Bite Series Book 2) Page 15
