Hell Fire

by Lia Davis

  Harper looked back at the brothers still trying unsuccessfully to attack her. "You got this?" she asked with a grin.

  I snorted. "Go."

  Cole turned his attention to me and charged. I tried sending out my Alpha power. "Stand down." It didn’t matter that he was a vampire, because I would rule them one day and therefore was still his Alpha. Except, of course, it didn’t work. He didn’t even flinch when the magic hit him. Well, that bites.

  I kicked out, hitting him in the chest, sending him flying back into his brother and another tranced student. I didn’t wait for them to get up before rushing over to them. When I reached them, I hit Cole square in the jaw, hard enough to send him to the ground. He was out. Time to stop pussyfooting around. Just because we couldn’t kill them didn’t mean we couldn't hurt them. They’d heal. I rounded on the student I didn’t know and kicked him in the chest. He flew into a nearby tree trunk before sagging to the ground. Out cold.

  I will not feel bad. That one was a wolf and would heal before he woke, which I hoped wasn’t before I could figure out how to break the spell in them all or Sterling was able to put them to sleep.

  Dylan grabbed my arm while I was making sure the other student was knocked out. Trying to wrench me toward him, he yanked hard, which did absolutely no good. Harper was right about their skills. I was sure a few of them were better trained than Dylan and Cole, but their threat came from their numbers. We were outnumbered two to one. Maybe three.

  I jerked my arm out of his grip and knocked his hands out of the way with my left hand while I pulled my right hand back to punch him. His nose crunched under my fist, breaking spectacularly. His eyes rolled up in his head and he dropped.

  Turning to see where I was needed next, I saw Ami and Tala working together. Tala manipulated a large stream of water around a large group of the students. Ami used her air to freeze the water, so it was more like icicles whirling around them. As soon as any of the students tried to dart forward, they were sliced by an icicle dagger. Nice.

  A familiar presence closed in behind me. I whirled around and met Peter’s blank gaze.

  My heart broke at the sight of him, and I didn’t move. My sweet mate was being controlled by a crazy-ass demon bitch. I had to figure out how to stop all this.

  Peter raced forward and slammed into me, knocking both of us to the ground. I landed on my back hard enough to knock the air out of me. Peter used my moment of vulnerability while I tried to suck some air in to pin me to the ground. He held my hands above my head with one of his while drawing the other back like he was going to punch me in the face. Not today, Pete, babe. I bucked my hips, knocking him off balance, then twisted my body and pinned him to the ground. The motion broke his hold on my hands.

  I framed his face with my hands and shoved my way into his mind. You are mine. Do you hear me? His fists beat my sides, but I ignored the pain of the blows as I focused on my mate.

  He fought against me and bared his teeth. I let my alpha power flow into him through our bond. As if his wolf recognized me, Peter stopped fighting and stared into my eyes, suddenly docile.

  I sensed my Dad next to me, but I didn’t look at him. "Dad, keep everyone away," I muttered.

  "Whatever you’re doing, do it fast." He must have called Paw and Papa over because within moments I was surrounded by my Niswi.

  Having them close fed into my power somehow. Must be from their bond with Mom. I didn’t have time to analyze it. "Get Dorian and my sisters," I commanded, momentarily forgetting who I was talking to. I needed Sterling, but he had to stay with his parents. I’d make do with my family. Dorian’s thread in my mind pulsed as he touched my back.

  "We’re here, Meda." I didn’t know how they could help me, but I knew that having them near made me stronger. I focused on Peter and went deeper into his mind until I found Calista’s spell, pulling it into me along with his lycan magic. It seemed to be stuck at first, resisting my interference. I mentally searched for Mom and Dad, drawing on their alpha magic.

  "How are you doing that?" Sterling was apparently with me after all.

  "Don’t ask me, I haven’t the first clue. Stop distracting me."

  He chuckled but faded away so I could focus. Using Mom and Dad’s Alpha power and the full force of mine, I yanked on the spell and it snapped like a rubber band. The force of his magic hitting me threw me back, off of him and onto my ass.

  Fuck.

  My Niswi rushed to me. "You okay?"

  "Yeah," I laughed, a little charged after being filled with Peter’s energy and magic. "Just peachy."

  "Is there any way you can do that to everyone?" Papa asked.

  I shook my head. "Not all at once." I rolled my shoulders, taking stock of my energy levels and physical condition. "I’m not sure I should do too many. It’s sort of like I imagine getting high feels like." Plus, it would take too long to go one by one. I needed to go straight to the source.

  "I know what to do." I dodged another incoming fist and pushed my attacker hard, sending him propelling back where Ami and Tala put him into their new ice ring. They’d probably had to give up the other one to come help me. Peter slammed a fist into another student, and I cringed. "Please try not to kill them. They are innocent in this."

  Peter nodded. "What’s your plan?" He crowded me, pushing me a few steps away from the skirmishes. Dorian joined us.

  "I’m here, too."

  "Just focus on your parents."

  "This is easy, but each of us can only do one at a time. I’ve got enough presence of mind to listen to you guys as well." He chuckled in my mind, teasing me for doubting him.

  "I need to find Calista and pull her power from her. All of it. That should break the spell on all of them." Dorian looked over my shoulder, and I couldn’t stand not seeing the fight. I turned so I pressed my back to Peter so neither one of us had blind spots. Dorian joined us so we were a triangle, watching each other’s backs. Peter wrapped an arm around my waist and gave me an awkward hug. I sighed. "I missed you."

  "Ditto." He let me go then grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. "We need to get a bit farther away from the fight."

  Dorian gave a short nod and the two them sandwiched me between them, walking toward the woods. I waved at the Niswi so they’d see we were slipping away. Dad looked puzzled but nodded his head.

  Dorian and Peter flanked me, walking in a circle around me to keep an eye on all parts of the woods around us for anyone that might’ve followed us. I sat on the leaf-covered ground and calmed my breathing. Closing my eyes, I searched the area we were in, stretching out my power to hunt Calista down. She wasn’t anywhere around the dorm, so I expanded out to cover the entire campus. Nothing. Focusing, I went beyond as far as I could.

  She wasn’t anywhere nearby. Damn it.

  I opened my eyes and my shoulders sagged. "She’s not on campus."

  Dorian said, “Look in Hell," as he continued searching for any threats.

  Oh yeah, I’d forgotten I could look in Hell. I was Satan’s granddaughter, after all. Closing my eyes again, I pulled on the psychic connection I had with Poppy, taking a moment to chuckle. How many people did I have running around in my head?

  A lot, really.

  Poppy opened our bond instantly, allowing me to use his power to search for the demon bitch.

  Thank you, Poppy.

  It didn’t take me long to find her, but when I entered her mind, she knew it and shoved me out. Fuck no, bitch. Not to-fucking-day. I gathered up my Alpha power and went in again, tapping on my parents again. Since I’d done it once, I was able to do it again without them being right beside me. This time I grabbed hold of the power that connected her to the students and pulled. Calista pulled back. Super. We were in a psychic tug-of-war.

  You will not win. I drew from my mates’ magic as well. If not for me, Peter would totally be an alpha. She still had the strength to resist me and pull her magic back. I moved on to the other two Niswi. I wasn’t going to touch Mom because she needed
hers for my new baby brother or sister. I yanked on Calista’s magic and it gave, so I kept pulling, drawing it inside myself. It still wasn’t enough.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fine. I’ll get my sisters. As I reached out to my sisters, drawing on their energy and magic, finally it was enough for me to yank Calista’s magic into my own mind. As soon as I did, my connection to her shut off.

  My body jerked when the magic hit it, limbs tingling and my head! Holy Hell. The feel of her power was so foreign. It knocked my connection to everyone but my sisters and my mates right out of my mind. Poppy, my Niswi, gone. They wouldn't like that. I giggled at the thought, and sure enough, Whammo! Poppy appeared.

  "Hey, Poppy!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I had a small sense of fighting still going on around me, but suddenly nothing was more important than giving my Poppy a hug. Launching myself forward, I came completely off the ground and nearly missed him. He reached out and grabbed me, pulling me into his arms. "Whoops," I said. "Went a little fast there."

  "Are you high, Meda?" Poppy asked, peering into my eyes. He put his nose close to my mouth and inhaled deeply, then did the same near my eyes and ears.

  "Poppy, that’s weird, what are you doing?" I squealed, batting him away.

  "You took a demon’s magic, didn’t you?" Poppy said, smiling at me indulgently.

  Hands grabbed my shoulders, yanking me away from my Poppy. "Meda, what the hell?"

  I twisted my head up, nearly falling over, to see Paw looking very angry. "What did I do now?" I asked him. "I’ve been good! I pulled the magic out of Calista. Calipsa. Calitsa." I stopped to snicker. "Calista." Why was her name so hard?

  "Yep. Definitely demon high." I wasn’t totally sure who’s voice that was. Maybe Lilipad, but I didn’t see her anywhere.

  "Lilipad?" I called for her. "Lilipad!"

  "I’m here, child, calm yourself. She took my hand and I turned to see her and my sisters. Lilipad looked mildly irritated, but my sisters’ jaws were so slack they were about to eat some dirt. I giggled and pointed at them but couldn’t quite find the words to say what was so funny.

  "Isn’t one of her mates a witch?" Lilipad asked.

  Words said voices in the background, or maybe the voices said the words, but I couldn’t make them out until Sterling was placed right in front of me. "Heyyyy," I said. "There you are." All I could focus on was how handsome his face was.

  Tingles started up in my hoo-ha region. "Can we go somewhere," I whispered to him. "Alone?" I winked, but giggles overtook my attempt to be sexy.

  Sterling laughed but seemed nervous. "Meda, not now, okay? I need you to focus with me. I’m going to hop in your mind and try to help you focus."

  "I can focus! What do I need to focus on?" I looked around. All those assholes were still trying to beat up all the sentries. "Oh, they’re fighting. Hold on I’ll just blast ‘em." I tried to grab my fire, but it was really slippery for some reason. "Hang on, it’s just being difficult."

  "No!" Half the people in the quad shouted at me.

  Looking back in shock, I shook my head. "Okay, okay. Sorry. Geez." What a bunch of buzzkills. Tala had her water swirling around her and one hand pointed at me. The other was facing Dorian, who hopped around, soaking wet. Ami’s hair whipped around her head. Had I burned him? Surely not. My fire wouldn’t hurt my mate.

  "Meda." Sterling shook my shoulders lightly.

  "Yeah?" I smiled at him. I’ll give you anything you want, especially if you give me that dick again.

  "Meda, stop talking," Sterling said urgently. All three of my Niswi appeared behind him, looking pissed. Whoops. Maybe I’d said the dick part out loud. It was really hard to tell for some reason.

  "Okay." I looked him in the eye, avoiding my Niswi.

  "I’m coming in, okay?"

  I nodded and closed my eyes. Maybe we could have like some sort of mind-sex. Ohhh, that sounded cool.

  "Can you hear me?"

  "Yes! Sterling, what is going on? I’m so happy, but everyone seems mad at me."

  "You’re drunk on demon magic. None of us knew it was possible. Except your Poppy, and he conveniently forgot to mention it. Listen, can you see the students?"

  I opened my eyes and looked around. "Yes."

  "No, silly. In your head."

  Oh. That was harder. Having Sterling in my mind helped me focus my thoughts, and I pushed past the delicious magic that was imbibing every pore in my body and grabbed hold of my magic, wrapping it around my consciousness like a blanket.

  "Oh, that’s better."

  "I thought it might be. We hoped if I came in here with you maybe I could push the demon magic back a bit."

  "I still feel sort of wavy and happy, but I can see how crazy I was acting. Sheesh, did I tell my parents you gave me good dick?" I felt my cheeks heating bright red as I remembered saying it.

  "Not just your parents. Everyone in the vicinity heard it. Thanks for the compliment, but it really wasn’t necessary."

  "I’m so sorry."

  "We can talk about it later. Listen, I need you to focus on the students. With her power, you should be able to remove the sub from their minds easily. In theory."

  Looking around, I found all the students without opening my eyes. Calista’s magic was all over them. "I see it," I whispered out loud. "Hang on."

  Without the first clue what I was doing, or if I was doing it right, I tried launching my magic out toward the black spot in one of the student’s brains. If I could grab it, I could pull it back to me and let Calista’s magic absorb it.

  No such luck. My magic just bounced off of it. Damn. I tried the same thing with a small thread of Calista’s magic, but touching it made me feel loopy again, though not as much as before.

  That time it almost worked, but it took me four tries to get the thread to actually land on the student. I kept missing because of the unsteadiness her magic gave me.

  "Try combining your magic with hers."

  "Good idea."

  I twined our threads of magic together, twisting and twisting until they merged together, her black magic darkening my red magic to a maroon. It was actually quite pretty.

  This time, I was able to hit the student and grab the black sub. It moved off of his mind easily, and I saw his mind brighten as I pulled it back to me. His consciousness took over, his awareness making his aura shine bright in my mind.

  "I did it!" I said excitedly. "One down."

  "Can you do more than one at once?" Papa’s voice filtered through my consciousness as if from very far away.

  "I’ll try."

  "Be careful."

  I twisted four threads, two and two. Launching them out at the next two closest students, I was able to grab their sub and remove it at the same time. Once they were free, I pulled it back. If I could do two, why not four?

  I gave that a try. "I need to be closer."

  Focusing my energy on making four threads, I didn’t hear them consult Sterling, but suddenly I was lifted into someone’s arms. My eyes closed, the only reason I knew it was Dorian was his smell, which filled my senses. My face must’ve been pressed into his chest.

  "Damn, I’m giving my mates and family a lot of trust while I do this. I’m completely vulnerable."

  "We’ll keep you safe." I knew he was right.

  Launching the four threads out, I successfully removed four more spells. The next time, I tried six. Six at once seemed to be my limit, because when I tried eight, they all unraveled and slammed back into me. I gasped and opened my eyes, Calista’s magic flooding me again.

  Losing my train of thought, I snuggled into Dorian. "Mmm, mate. You smell good. Will you take me upstairs? Sterling kept telling me to hush." The tingles were back, stronger than before. I wanted to relieve them, desperately.

  "You’re not done, Meda," Dorian whispered in my ear. "Go back and finish the job."

  With a sigh, I did as he asked, meeting Sterling in my mind again and clearing the fog so I could focus. Sending out six t
hreads at a time, slowly I removed all the subs from the student’s brains and was surprised to find several professors in the mix, as well as a few of the students’ parents and some people I’d never seen or met before.

  Finally, all the fighters that were still awake were cured and sitting in the quad, being questioned by the sentries.

  "Put me down," I demanded, running my hands around Dorian’s neck and grabbing his hair. "I want to put my legs around your waist. It’s hot."

  "Seriously, Meda, please shut up," Tala said from behind me.

  "Oh, whoops." I giggled again. "I can’t help myself. We’re newly mated."

  "When will this wear off?" Dorian asked weakly.

  "If she can find a way to release the magic, soon. Otherwise, it’ll last about a week."

  Dorian stopped still. "How can we get her to release the magic?"

  I looked at my Poppy, the ever unruffled, always stoic grandfather who had been there for me as long as I could remember. For the first time in my life, I saw the man look embarrassed.

  His cheeks were bright red, and he stammered. I’d never heard him stammer. "She will probably release it if she has an, uh. Oh, fuck. An orgasm."

  "Dad!" my dad exclaimed.

  "Lucian!" My Lilipad slapped Poppy’s arm.

  "Well, it’s true, I can’t help it." He looked around. "You’ve all got this under control. I’m going back to Hell where things aren’t so mortifying." He disappeared. Lilipad kissed my cheek then followed.

  "Meda, just a bit more. Remove the spells from all the students the Hightowers put to sleep?"

  I felt myself being moved, closer to the dull lights around about twenty souls. A few at a time, I removed their sub, which also woke them up. When I was done, I opened my eyes, still safely snuggled in Dorian’s arms.

  "Where’s Peter," I demanded. "I haven’t—" I stopped. They didn’t want me to talk about dicks out loud. I put my mouth close to Dorian’s ear. "I haven’t had his dick yet," I whispered. A strangled sound caused me to look behind Dorian at my mom.