We locked eyes at the same instant, and his wide eyes told me he had an idea, and I hoped it was the same as mine. Where else could a djinn get its power than the djinn realm itself?
I grinned and folded my arms. “Give it a shot, tough guy.”
Doren’s eyes focused on me, and he exhaled before inhaling sharply.
Beyond him, Adomal and Koltic appeared.
“Stop!” Adomal shouted.
I curled my fingers toward the floor, and the ground trembled. I knew Doren was experimenting with the magic, his blue marking sparked like a fire trying to start.
“Stop him!” Adomal repeated.
Koltic suddenly disappeared, and I had just enough time to pull a shield up in front of him.
“Let’s see how you like snakes,” I sneered. Summoning snakes from the ground had been a special trick of mine, only this time I sent the snakes to wrap around Koltic and Adomal. I stole a quick glance at Doren.
The wounds on Doren’s back slowly began to heal.
I grinned at him, and he met my gaze.
His eyes suddenly glowed blue, his markings ignited, and the wounds healed almost immediately. More than that, the chains binding him snapped and fell free.
I laughed and ran to him. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him like I hadn’t felt him in centuries. I peered at him. “How are you feeling?”
“Like it’s time to rid the world of Taotin once and for all.” His eyes still glowed as he gazed down at me. Something caught his attention, and he looked beyond me.
I dropped from his arms and faced Taotin, who looked ready to tear us both to shreds.
“I should have known better,” he growled. His fingers transformed into mighty claws, and he sneered at me.
My blood ran cold. Doren was right, Taotin wasn’t a man any longer. But what manner of monster was he now?
“I knew something was wrong by the way you acted. But I will give you one last chance.” He looked at Doren. “Either he kills you, or you kill him. Doren, I command you to kill Zenja.”
Doren lifted his chin, his body beginning to tremble as he refused the order.
I looked between them. “Taotin, don’t do this!”
“Kill him, and we can live out the rest of our lives in peace.”
I put my hand on Doren’s chest. “Doren, you don’t have—”
But he seized my wrist in his right hand, and with his left, delivered a blow so hard to my face I flew through the air. I blinked, finding myself on the ground, pain echoing through my shoulder and radiating through the side of my head.
“Gwen, run,” Doren half-growled.
I looked up. His eyes were filled with agony, but his hands were already moving to summon magic to him. I put up a shield before Doren could finish the spell, but it wasn’t a direct attack. Vines spread across the floor, and I tried hitting them with fireballs. I managed to kill sections and scorch the ground, but new growth covered quickly behind.
I locked eyes on Doren. “You aren’t the one who killed me.”
He winced, but the vines slowly began to stop spreading, though they almost reached my feet now. “Wh-what?”
“You aren’t the one who killed me! Taotin did. I saw it!” I held up the Ankh around my neck. “I saw it all. You were trying to protect me. He is the one who ended my life, and then he pinned it on you. You took the blame. You are the one who fell. But you weren’t the one who took the dagger to my throat.”
Doren slowly turned his head and looked at Taotin.
The man had been watching with a bemused expression but now eyed Doren with apprehension. He shrugged. “A moment of anger. Should have been you.”
Doren slowly exhaled through his nose, and just as quickly as the vines appeared, they changed targets, honing in on Taotin.
He backed up. “I gave you an order! How are you refusing me?”
I didn’t understand either, but I was going to help Doren. I hurried to his side and reached up to the electricity filling the room. It rushed eagerly to my waiting fingertips, and the lights in the house flickered as I summoned more and more.
Taotin screeched at Doren, repeating his command over and over to kill me. I threw the ball of electricity at Taotin. He screamed, and I saw the silhouette of his new form against the light, revealing a cat larger than any tiger or lion.
Doren was still glowing when I gave him a worried look.
Taotin’s eyes turned yellow and his pupil narrowed to a slit. Immediately after, he took on his cat form. His black fur seemed to fade into the darkness attempting to engulf the room.
Guards finally made their way down the stairs, and I used every piece of knowledge I had to attack them. Once my fingers began the intricate movements, my instinct and memories kept the spells going. I hit one of them with lightning and quickly followed with a ball of pure energy, sending him through the wall.
Taotin, now a monster of a cat, leapt at Doren with a flurry of claws and teeth.
I turned to the second man and reached my fingers toward him. I felt my magic slide through him, saw blood begin soaking the chest of his shirt, and I clutched my hand into a fist. The guard gasped and dropped to his knees. He clawed at his chest as if he could grab onto the wrist of the magic squeezing his heart. When he passed out, I let go.
“I summon Adomal and Koltic!” Taotin yelled.
I heard Doren scream and braved a look in his direction. Taotin had him pinned to the ground, and Doren was growling with effort to keep the dagger-like teeth from tearing him apart.
But I couldn’t use just any magic, because I’d hit Doren.
Adomal and Koltic appeared, and I knew Doren was about to be killed if I didn’t do something. When I stepped forward, I kicked something and looked down. It was the painting Doren was bound to.
I snatched it and faced Doren and Taotin.
“I command you to return to the djinn realm!” I shouted over the chaos.
Doren didn’t even have a chance to look at me before he disappeared.
Taotin turned to face me, and I saw blood dripping from his mouth. He shuddered, and the shadowy fur transformed back into a man. “You have been very bad,” he said. His voice was so calm, so dangerous, I gulped.
“And now he’s gone,” I said, shoving the picture in my back pocket.
“I want him dead.” He looked at the two djinn. “Kill him.” They disappeared.
I searched Taotin’s face, my heart pounding so hard my ribs ached. He knew I attacked him. I had no excuse for that. I clutched the chain around my neck and blinked. Maybe . . . just maybe he would believe one more lie.
“The necklace,” I breathed. I slid it off and held it in my hand, staring at it.
“What about it?” he mumbled, drawing closer.
“Doren gave it to me ages ago. My mother gave it to me when I was a child, and . . .” I let it fall to the floor. “What if he charmed it?” I looked at Taotin, now only a step away. It was all a lie, of course. I don’t know if Doren enchanted the necklace or not, and I knew he’d never touched it, but if Taotin believed it, I could change the situation.
“Surely you would have felt the magic in it, being a sorceress,” he said coldly.
“I did.” I wiped my hands on my pants. “Whenever I touched it, it felt warm. But I always thought it was because I could feel my mother since I believed she was the one who gave it to me.”
Taotin’s eyes finally drifted to the lump of gold on the floor. “You believe he charmed you to be in love with him?”
“It would make sense. All of this. When I left his cell last night, he sent me to look up a spell, one that unlocked the memories bound to the necklace. When I said the spell, I saw every happy moment with him. Every kiss, every piece of laughter.” I reached out and touched Taotin’s arm. “But it was all a lie. He lied to me. He deceived me. He kept me from you.”
Taotin reached out and stroked a finger down my cheek, his claw coming o
ut as it reached my jaw, and I knew with just a little more pressure he could pierce my skin.
“And why should I believe this now?” His eyes moved from my lips to my eyes. “You . . . think you’re so good at lying.” He slammed his claws into my side, and I screamed. “You think I can’t read it in your eyes?”
I gulped for breath as his claws sunk through my flesh like a knife through butter.
“Time will fix this. It always does.”
Chapter 28
Doren
I found myself staring up at the sky, lying on my back, and blinked only twice before rolling to my feet. Gwen had wished me back here. What was she thinking? She couldn’t face Taotin alone!
I turned around helplessly but knew Taotin’s other djinn would be close behind. I hissed between my teeth as I ran, blood dripping down my leg from Taotin’s claws. I called upon the magic of our realm like Gwen had taught me and let the magic heal my wound as I made my way for my home.
I’d taken only a little bit of time to hide the Dagger of the Dead, suspecting something like this might happen.
There was so much more to think about.
Gwen had remembered her last moments alive, and she’d said I wasn’t the one who killed her. It was time for me to pull open those barred-up doors and see for myself, but I needed to get back to her first.
I skidded into my home and threw my bed aside. The curved blade lay right where I’d left it. I crouched and gripped the handle as a shockwave exploded the brick surrounding me. Had I been standing, the flying stone would have caused some painful damage, temporary or not, and I would have been caught that much more unawares.
Koltic ran at me without hesitation.
He didn’t have a chance to see the dagger in my hand and didn’t have time to react when I drove it up and under his ribs, through his lungs, and into his heart.
His eyes widened at me in confusion before he melted away into the sand.
Adomal stared at me, hesitating just long enough for me to throw my own ball of magic at him and send him sprawling.
Unlike with our battle before, an audience of djinn gathered to see what excitement was occurring.
I ignored them all.
Adomal wiped blood from his nose and spread his fingers toward the sand, motioning above it, and the sand rippled into snakelike forms, which headed straight for me.
“I’m done with you,” I said. It was my turn to hold my hand out against the sand, but I heated it, so hot it began to glow, and the snakes hidden beneath died. I ran toward Adomal.
He gasped and backed up.
I threw a white orb portal over Adomal’s head to the building behind and a second at my feet. I dropped through the portal, landing on the roof of the building behind him. I jumped from the roof with a shout of anger and rage. I drove the dagger down, and it hit its target—burying in Adomal’s shoulder at the neck. With one quick motion, he became part of the sand as well.
I panted hard and faced the others.
They murmured to one another, and those who met my gaze quickly looked away and walked the opposite direction.
I hadn’t spent my entire existence as an assassin for nothing.
I took a seat on the rubble I had once claimed as home. I turned the dagger over in my hands, the dim light glinting across the metal.
“Come on, Gwen. Summon me!”
Chapter 29
Gwen
I knew Taotin had never felt a particle of love for me.
I knew he had never felt true love in his entire existence.
Was he capable of it? I didn’t know. But I knew that everything he’d done to me and “for” me was not love. I could see it in the intensity of his cat-like yellow eyes.
“I will never be yours again,” I said firmly.
Taotin’s brow twitched. “Is that what you think?”
I stepped away from him. “Yes. I won’t spend another day here. If you follow me, I will do whatever is necessary to end things between us. Even if that means I have to end your life.” I met the intensity of his glare, then turned and headed up the stairs.
I knew better than to turn my back to him, so I kept him in the corner of my gaze.
“You’re making a mistake,” he growled, his hands flexing again.
I reached the top steps and opened the door, welcoming the bright sunlight. I closed the door behind me and ran for the nearest exit, not hesitating or bothering to take my time. My heart pounded in my ears, my hands grew clammy, and shadows moved around me to try and cut me off.
The back door came into view through the kitchen.
I bolted for it with every bit of strength I had in me.
The shadows reached out and grabbed me, wrapping strong arms around my body, pinning my arms down. Taotin lifted my feet from the ground and began to drag me away from the safety of the exit.
I wasn’t going to be a damsel in distress. I wasn’t going to wait for a knight in shining armor to swoop in and save me.
I slapped my palms together, and a wave of light burst around me, throwing Taotin back.
I wheeled around and clutched my fingers together, grabbing the light in the room to try and smother Taotin.
He snarled at me and fell backward into the corner of the room, where my light hadn’t reached yet. The shadows flitted across the ceiling and the corner of the floor in the room, and I tried to follow them with my eyes. Taotin took form again, holding Doren’s picture in front of me.
I patted my back pocket, and Taotin snickered.
“You think you get to keep him? Throw me aside and run off with this . . . bastard.” His lip twitched.
“You don’t own me!” I snapped back, hands balled into fists at my side. “You never have, Taotin. I was frightened of you then, but not now. Not anymore. I’m more powerful than you, and you know why? Because I know what real love is! And it isn’t you!”
Taotin’s body trembled. He bore his teeth at me like a beast, even letting out a snarl. “Adomal!”
The djinn didn’t appear.
Taotin reached into his pocket, but pulled out a handful of sand instead. “No. Koltic?”
Koltic didn’t appear either.
“No . . . No!” he roared. “No, no, no!” He spun and punched the wall, putting his fist through it. “I’m going to tear him to shreds. Doren, show your face!”
Doren materialized between us, and his surprised expression shifted from Taotin to me.
Taotin chuckled and gestured to the dagger in Doren’s hand. “I order you to kill yourself.”
Doren’s knuckles went white.
My heart stopped. My breath hitched. “No!” I shouted.
I ran forward.
Every moment slowed.
Doren’s hand trembled, and he grabbed on to his wrist with his other hand while the dagger slowly drew closer and closer to his chest. His panicked lavender eyes darted from Taotin to me.
I wasn’t going to be helpless anymore. Not under Taotin’s thumb. The world, my world, would be a much better place without this nightmarish excuse of a man.
I looked to my left at the sunlight spilling into the sitting room. With every particle of magic inside myself, I seized hold of the sunlight. The lights overhead weren’t enough. I dragged the sunlight through the glass. As the light filled me, it filled the room as well, brightening until not a shred of shadow lingered.
“What is this?” Taotin demanded. I saw him trying to use his magic, but it didn’t seem to comply.
I held my hand out and released the entire force of the light into Taotin’s chest. He struck the wall, and the force of light streamed into him, making him scream as it overcame his darkness. The light faded to normal brightness, and all that was left of Taotin was a shadow imprint of a massive cat burned into the wall.
Doren gasped, dropping the dagger and collapsing to his knees.
Silence.
Blessed silence.
I fina
lly turned to Doren and smiled as I, too, melted to my knees.
He crawled over and threw his arms around me, pulling me into his body and holding tight. “You did it.”
I buried my face in Doren’s neck and realized my body was trembling. “I was so . . . so afraid.”
“And so brave.” He pulled back and held my face.
I kissed him, engulfed in the warmth of his skin and scent of myrrh. I broke the kiss and quickly crawled over to the painting on the floor. The instant my fingers touched the painting, I turned to the man I loved. “Doren. I wish you free.”
Color trickled from his head to his toes. He was once again my Doren. I couldn’t help but laugh as I reached up to smooth Doren’s hair.
He chuckled. “A little messy?” he asked, glancing up.
“It’s you.” I pressed my lips to his, breathing in his scent.
We didn’t need to say anything else.
He kissed down my neck, and a hand slid up my back.
“Not here,” I breathed, and then I laughed. “Anywhere but here.”
Doren grinned. “All right. I, uh, would tell you to just wish us anywhere in the world, but . . .” He looked over at the painting he’d been bound to for all these years. He reached out and touched it. The painting’s image became grainy, and particles of sand dripped to the floor until it disappeared.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t really know how to feel,” he confessed. He turned the painting over and looked up at me. “Thousands of years, a djinn is all I was. Now—”
I reached out and took his hand. “Now you are with me. Both of us are mortals, and both of us will settle into the life we always wanted.”
Doren got to his feet, then pulled me to mine.
My legs felt like Jello. In fact, my whole body still trembled. It felt as if I’d touched an electric horse fence and the sensation of being zapped still echoed through my muscles.
Doren scooped me up into his arms and carried me to the doorway. “Oh wait, the dagger.” He turned, but the dagger was gone. He frowned and glanced at me, then shrugged. “Must be one of those immortal-only weapons.”
“You really don’t need to carry me,” I tried to object, but even as I said the words, my head felt heavy and I rested it on Doren’s shoulder.
Curse of a Djinn Page 19
