A Magical Reckoning: Magic and Mischief Book 1

by N. R. Hairston

  On my way.

  Boya crept up beside me, and I nodded toward the building I suspected. He powered up, and I reached out to Lin to let him know where we were.

  Ninia made contact. Got Steva and Iscca with me. We’re going in from the back.

  Ok, we’ll cover the front.

  Lin joined us in mere seconds. I thought about how we could handle this. “Ninia and the others are around back. Lin, you go to the right. Boya you hit‘em from the left.” I cracked my knuckles, trying to psych myself up for the battle I knew was coming. “I’m going to knock on the front door.”

  I called out to Ninia. Count of three?

  Gotcha. She replied.

  One, I powered up. Two, I raised my hands in the air and walked closer to the door. On the count of three I called out to Ninia, and we damn near tore the whole warehouse apart. The doors made a loud booming sound and then exploded from both ends.

  Twenty human men and women were lined up side by side. Eyes glazed over, they stared at the alluring figure in front of them. I found it strange that none of them had reacted to the blown off doors. As I got closer I began to understand why.

  This man, this Rome, he was an absorber all right, but it was more than that. He stood tall, with short cropped brown hair and a long nose that said aristocrat.

  His skin was a few shades lighter than Boya’s, but not quite as pale as Iscca’s. Sweat trickled down my back as the power in him called out to me.

  I took a deep breath and tried to regain my emotions. I’d never felt anything like this. The pull alone was enough to draw you in, to make you want to stay. It was… hypnotizing, this vibe he gave off. At the same time, it felt so damn familiar that I knew I’d felt it before.

  Ninia named it before I could. He has incubus blood. Be careful. Of course, that’s what it was. I was in contact with enough incubus daily, that I should have known.

  Still, he was an absorber too. Those two things mixed together made for a very powerful combination. An incubus absorber, I’d never met one before, but I knew we had to proceed with caution.

  I threw that thought out to Lin and then looked at the two beings beside Rome. One was the Banshee, Helena, from the cemetery and the other was a Pantue. Pantues were descended from pig DNA. Very smart, with above average intelligence, they were often used as business advisers and personal counsels.

  Helena looked at me from under her eyelids. Her smile crooked and victorious as if they’d already won. “Perhaps it was your deaths, I foresaw.” She sang. All twenty humans turned our way after that.

  The attack was swift, but I was ready. I had three come at me, but I waited until they got close before I blew them back with my energy.

  They fell to the ground hard, but were back up in a second as if I’d simply knocked a fly off their shoulder, no harm done at all.

  Vicious grins on their faces, they circled around me, as if trying to figure the best way to take me down.

  Ninia also had three circling. Boya had three. Lin five. Steva three. Iscca three. We’d walked into a trap. I could feel it down to my bones. They’d been waiting for us.

  Misha circled around Ninia, while Mitch was one of the ones on Boya. They wouldn’t hurt them if they could avoid it, but if it came down to the line, then, well, Boya and Ninia would do what they had to do to survive.

  Rome walked down the middle of the warehouse, his hands clasped behind his back, a sick smile plastered on his face.

  The Banshee and the Pantue walked behind him. Helena bared her teeth, her white hair flying, eyes darting around the room rapidly. The Pantue walked with his head up. And his eyes straight. The look on his face said that this was all beneath him.

  Rome came to stand before us. His gaze traveled from me, to Lin, to Ninia.

  That feeling of needing to be closer to him was still there, but I was doing everything I could to temper it. “Brothers and sisters. I see that you got my invitation.” He turned to the Banshee. “I guess we have Helena to thank for that.” The woman beamed at his praise and I tried not to vomit.

  He gestured toward the twins. “As well as Mitch and Misha. You played your parts well. Thank you.” Though there was a spike in their body temperatures, neither twin moved a muscle.

  Rome walked around Lin, Ninia, and me. He raised an index finger. “You know, you have to ask yourself why we allow the First Families to hold so much power, make all the rules.” He waited for a response and when he got none, he continued. “I don’t want to fight with you, my fellow Cubuses. I want you to join me. I want us to work together.”

  He watched our faces closely, no doubt trying to gauge our reaction. “I want to put the power in the hands of the people. Does that make sense?” He looked between us again, eyebrow raised.

  The feeling to be close to him started to get stronger. So I bit my lip hard to get rid of it. His voice was like smooth wine. “Shouldn’t we be in control of our own lives? That’s all I’m asking.” He made it sound so reasonable, but that way laid danger. I already knew that.

  Waiting for us to agree and getting nothing, this time when he spoke his voice came out hard and almost taunting. “There’s been a big round of succubus killings. How long before the First Families bring down their gavel on both the innocent and guilty of our kind.”

  He looked from me to Ninia to Lin. “Doesn’t it make you mad? To be held accountable for something you didn’t do? What happens the next time or the time after that?”

  He shook his head as if to say we just didn’t get it, and if we could see things his way, then everything would be fine. “Why live in fear if we don’t have to? That’s all I’m asking.”

  My hands curled at my sides. It wasn’t as simple as he made it out to be, and he knew that. “So you killed innocent humans just to put us on the defensive, thinking we’d come running into your arms and help your plot to take out the First Families?”

  An almost amused look crossed his face as he stared at me. “No. Well, not at first. I told my disciples to kill anyone who got in their way.”

  “So Chris and Alley Hemsworth?”

  He thought about it for a second before answering. “Saw their son using his newfound powers and wouldn’t back down. He called, and asked what he should do, and so I told him.” His grin was cocky and smug now, and the only thing I wanted was to wipe it off his face.

  Ninia leaned her head to the side as if putting all the pieces together. “So because you gave the humans power, and you’re an incubus, that’s why it looked like a succubus or incubus did the killings, when all along it was just your super powered army of twenty.”

  He looked pleased that she’d come to that conclusion on her own. “I never meant for any Cubus to take the blame for this. When transferring powers, you never know what the end result will be. Some of your own power always leaks through.”

  He seemed a little too happy with himself, and I got the feeling that nothing snuck through unless he wanted it to. “Kind of unavoidable. No, I didn’t intend for it to happen, but once it did, I saw an opportunity. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the First Families brought down their hammer of justice. And after that.…”

  “You thought we’d be more likely to be on your side from fear of the First Families?” I tried to hold onto my patience just a little longer. “Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.” I let him know.

  He nodded as if he’d expected as much and then launched into a long monolog of why he was really doing this. “My cousin Derik. He’d had too much to drink one night, thought he’d bust into Riverwalk and maybe air out a grievance or two.”

  His face tensed up and for the first time, I saw genuine emotion there. “They didn’t ask questions. Didn’t give him a chance to voice his concerns. They killed him, on the spot, because he dared invade their precious sanctuary.” His voice went low and deadly on that last part, and I could clearly feel the force of his anger.

  Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone and he was back to that charm
ing smile and “come-hither-vibe.

  A shiver ran down my spine and sweat broke out on my forehead. I had to stay strong. I couldn’t allow myself to get caught up in his bullshit. His cousin knew the risk going into Riverwalk uninvited. We all did.

  “You know, you may have been able to make a case if you hadn’t caused the murder of Chris and Alley Hemsworth, along with five other innocent humans. Or did you think we’d forget that little detail?” I asked.

  Rome flicked his hand, not looking bothered by this at all. “You don’t really believe we can do this without spilled blood do you, Kia?” Hearing my name on his lips had me inhaling sharply, trying to fight the desire that came naturally to both succubi and incubi alike.

  I stilled myself and vowed not give in to him.

  “Come on now, let us not play games.” His chest swelled with, I don’t know, pride. “There’s so much power in this room. Just between the four of us.”

  He pointed to himself, Lin, Ninia, and me. “And your panther and dragon friends are encouraged to join us, of course. They too have been unfairly persecuted by the First Families. I remember when both groups were gathered up and taken away just because one panther or one dragon got out of control.”

  “I pass,” Boya said, smoke coming out of his nose and mouth.

  Iscca exhaled fire, angry dark smoke flew out and circled the room. “I pass as well.”

  Steva extended his claws and roared loudly, showing off his sharp teeth and fangs. “Pass.”

  Rome chuckled and looked undaunted, proving that he’d had no interest in them in the first place. He turned to those of us with Cubus blood. “They’ve made their decision. Have you made yours?”

  I sent a blast of energy right by his head, missing him by only an inch. He looked completely unimpressed and simply turned his attention to Ninia and Lin. “So say you all?” I hadn’t really tried to hit him, mostly just warn him off.

  Ninia took the exact appearance of one of the humans circling her. The man jumped back, with a gasp as if shocked to see his own image standing before him. His mouth hung open, and his eyes said “how?”

  She didn’t answer. Instead, she flipped him over, while blasting the man beside him, sending him to his knees with a grunt. Misha sent her hurling across the room, probably hoping to keep her out of the way.

  One of the men surrounding Lin jumped toward him, and with lighting fast speed Lin’s hands transformed into sharp talons scraping the man across the face. The man screamed out in pain, while frantically holding his hands to his face trying to stop the blood loss. After that, all hell broke loose.

  The three surrounding me lunged. I sensed it coming and dropped to a low spin, knocking two off their feet and throwing the other across the room.

  Like three well-tuned jack-in-the-boxes, they bounced back immediately.

  I released my claws and bared my fangs daring them to come at me again.

  Lin’s hands moved chaotically. Energy flew all around him in a way that seemed undisciplined and loose but was completely controlled and measured.

  A calculated blast directed at two of the super humans surrounding him split them in half. One man, he pulled close and whispered hellish nightmares in his ear. The man raked long nails down his eyes and ears at a supersonic speed, tearing his eyeballs out, and causing both ears to hang loosely from his head, both mangled and destroyed.

  I invaded the mind of one of my assailants, searched out his worst fear, and then sent him rapid-fire images of it until he fell to the ground twitching and screaming.

  Ninia burrowed her energy into one woman’s body, ripping her chest out and crushing her heart.

  I turned to the side just in time to receive a hard blow to my face. It rocked me off balance, and I stumbled back and fell to the ground.

  My vision blurred, and I shook my head trying to clear it. Before I could get up, something hard and solid pressed down on my neck cutting off my air supply.

  My pulse sped up and true fear shot through me. Panic. I was panicking and that wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t breathe.

  I could hear myself gagging and gasping and nothing had ever sounded so horrific in my life. I tried to use my energy, my hands, anything to get it off me, but I couldn’t move. My windpipe was being crushed and I couldn’t fucking move.

  The foot moved just a little, but it was enough for me to try and get a stronghold on it. I grabbed at it with my hand, but I was so weak that I couldn’t get any kind of grip, and my arm slipped back to the floor.

  I tried again, but before I could even make contact, a different human started a relentless assault, kicking me in my stomach and lower body.

  It felt like I was being stomped by an elephant and there was nothing to insulate me from it. I had to just lay there and take it, which wasn’t something I was good at.

  Then the boot moved and the kicking stopped. Relieved, I tried to sit up, but a sharp knife across my right cheek knocked me back again.

  I put a hand to my face, trying to stop the bleeding, but then the blade cut me again, slicing into my chest and stomach.

  I could feel the blood leaking out, could feel myself losing consciousness. The pain was so intense that I actually lost my breath for a moment trying to get a handle on it.

  I put my arms up to protect my face, but I was too weak to sustain it, and soon I was completely unprotected.

  I needed to focus on healing myself. That’s the thing about Cubus. We could partly heal ourselves, but it wasn’t a hundred percent. Sex was the preferred method and a lot more efficient.

  Doing it ourselves took too much out of us and gave little back. Right now, it was the only thing that could save me, so I had to give it a try.

  I closed my eyes. I needed to gather up all the energy I had left. It floated above me and stretched to cover the length of my body. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to act as a low-level shield against my assailants.

  I still needed some of it to heal me, though. So without causing gaps in the protective layer, I pulled off bits and parts, sending it to my face, stomach, and legs. I felt a bit of relief as some of the wounds closed and the bleeding stopped.

  From the corner of my eye, I could see Boya steadily destroying two of the humans that were on him.

  He wrapped around the throat of one, choking him to the ground. He sent smoke into the mouth of another, exploding his lungs and dropping him to the floor.

  Mitch, he just kept knocking to the floor, and kicking away, trying not to hurt the boy.

  Steva had his claws out and was literally ripping his opponents apart. Iscca simply set fire to anyone who opposed him, he and Boya both putting out the flames as quickly as they started them.

  My energy began to wane, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it dissipated altogether. I needed to force it outward because right now it was the only weapon I had.

  It was a gamble, because if it wasn’t strong enough to get them off me then I’d just lost the only protection that I had.

  Still, I had to try. I closed my eyes and pushed every bit of it out. The super humans that were on me flew back and landed somewhere I couldn’t see. I took a breath, hoping that meant the end of them.

  Once I was sure they wouldn’t be coming back, I got shakily to my feet. My legs wobbled and the unsteadiness in them meant I couldn’t really stand straight, but I held my body rigid, trying to give the appearance of strength if nothing else.

  Lin was still standing, barely. He had cut marks up and down his arms and torso, and large angry welts covering his whole body. His breath came in heavy gasps, his chest rising and falling from the strain of it.

  Five bodies lay at his feet, but I could see the effort it’d taken for him to get them there.

  Five humans still stood, Mitch and Misha thankfully among them. They were hurt, but still breathing. Both had burn and claw marks and neither seemed too steady on their feet.

  Me, Ninia, Lin, Boya, Steva, and Iscca stood together. Blood ran from Ninia’s sid
e and neck. She had a hand over an open wound on her stomach and her breath was short and catchy.

  I leaned over slightly so that we could keep each other upright.

  We’d put up a good fight considering that our backup had never arrived. Then again, we hadn’t waited like we were supposed to, so the chief probably hadn’t even known where to find us. I sent out a signal letting them know what was going on.

  My wounds were opening back up and I could feel the blood starting to seep out. I was almost depleted of energy and didn’t know how long I could keep standing.

  Rome walked over, clapping his hands, and smiling. “As was expected.” He looked at us with some kind of deranged pride. “Now think about how freeing it would be to turn that same rage on the Riverwalk First Families.” The Banshee and Pantue stood behind him, heads held high, eyes shining in his light. He had them. They were so caught up in his spell that they couldn’t see through to the bullshit.

  He looked between myself, Lin and Ninia as if waiting for our acquiescence.

  I wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face, but my arm was screaming, and my stomach felt raw and open. The only thing I could do about it right then was lean on Ninia for support.

  Lin wrapped his arm around my waist and I knew that was his way of keeping me standing.

  Seeing that none of us were ready to join him, Rome smiled and pointed to Helena. “I’ll just leave you with this. Give you something to think about.”

  He turned on his heels, the Pantue, and his five remaining followers right behind him.

  Lin, Boya, and Ninia tried to give chase, and that’s when the Banshee released the full fury of her rage. Her legs bent. Her arms fell to the side, and her mouth opened wider than any beings had a right to. She looked like something out of one of those horror movies that the humans were so fond of.

  She let out a scream so shrill and bloodcurdling that it dropped us to the floor in an instant. I tried to cover my ears, as blood seeped from them as well as from my mouth and nose.