As it settled, and I released spirit and slumped to the side, barely able to stay sitting up, my hands blooming with bruises and two fingers crooked—broken. Well, that was a nice addition.
I took in my surroundings as fast as I could—I needed my bearings to know where the first hit would come from—ignoring the throbbing in my hands.
A forest surrounded me, the trees and fauna not unlike that in the clearing I’d just left. Only these trees and plants were blackened with fire that still sent smoke curling into the air. Even the ground was hot with residual heat.
“Pamela,” a voice traveled on the breeze, tickling the back of my neck, making my hair stand on end.
“Well, shit, I hoped to surprise you,” I said.
Laughter bounced around me, coming from every direction. Twatwaffle was playing with me already.
“Did you really think you could stop me?” Her voice was louder, coming from all around me like her laughter, as if she was the wind whipping through the treetops.
“Actually, stop isn’t the right word.” I slowly turned in a full circle as I spoke. “Annihilate is closer to my goal.”
“You and your little pussy cat, oh, wait . . . she’s not with us anymore, is she? What about that bear of yours? I would keep him as a pet. One that would nicely match my own, I think.” She was right behind me.
I whipped around, and snapped my blades up as she launched two balls of pure power at me, the glittering orbs a deep red. I caught one on the tip of each blade and threw them back at her.
Madeline raised a hand and cast them aside as if I’d tossed a water balloon at her.
They both exploded about thirty feet away, taking out two huge evergreens, and leaving a massive crater behind. She didn’t retaliate, not right away other than to raise her eyebrows, which gave me a chance to get a good look at her.
Taller than me, and thin as a damned beanpole. I wondered if she’d been starving, or if she was just built like that. Maybe both. The breeze caught her bright red hair, and swept it away from her face, showing off the pitch-black eyes that held no white. Doll’s eyes, or shark’s eyes. Dead eyes.
She was the figure I’d seen in the flames, and the one from my dreams.
Of all the things she wore, I never would have guessed on black jeans, and a long-sleeved black shirt. It seemed so . . . common for an evil witch.
She watched me shift my weight from one foot to the other as I settled into a fighting stance. The blows would come fast and hard once we really started. I knew enough not to push it at the beginning.
“So. We finally meet,” she said. “And you are my . . . Alpha? Very clever of you. I must ask, how are you keeping me out of your head? My other Alphas were easily controlled. I heard a rumor you have your magic blocked.” She motioned to my arms as she smiled.
Fuckity damn bitch witch. This was bad, worse than bad. She knew my weakness and I still had no idea what hers was.
I made myself smile at her. No need to tell her about my other magic. “Good genetics, I guess. To be clear, I can’t say it’s much of a pleasure. Dealing with your bullshit, that is.”
She waved a single finger in the air that made me tense, as she tssked. “Manners, Pamela. They’re still important.”
“Not so much. Once you try to kill me, my familiars, my pack, you don’t get the nice Pamela. You get the Pamela soaked in darkness.” I hadn’t meant to say that, but the words flowed from my mouth. Madeline’s eyebrows went up.
“Darkness? I sense nothing but a young girl pretending she is something she is not. As so often is the case.” She dusted her hands together. “Shall we move this along, weakling?”
“In a hurry?” I asked.
Embrace me.
“As a matter of fact, I’m tired of playing this game with you. I’d like to move on to another caravan. You know there is one a little ahead of you with four children. Four under four . . . delicious.”
I rolled my wrists, the bracelets jingling lightly as I brought my blades up again. For as long as I could, I would use her own magic against her.
Maybe I could tire her out.
“You have to go through me first.”
She laughed, and the sound sent a flock of archies hunched at the edges of the burnt valley into the air as it echoed unnaturally around us.
The world was quiet as her laughter died away and I flexed my hands, waiting, as hard as it was to be patient.
Her mouth twisted, and hands snapped toward me with a flick of her wrists as she launched a power bomb, sending it sailing over my head in a high arch. It exploded behind me, bigger than the one the troll dropped. Bright blue and green flames erupted roaring to life as if they were alive even on the already burned material.
Witch fire.
I gritted my teeth and pulled my cloak around me tightly, not wanting to drop it.
I had no way to disappear. To get away from the fire.
There was only one thing I could do that I could see. I ran straight for Madeline, my blades out. Her eyes widened and then she flicked her fingers at me, rolling balls of magic that glittered red with blood shooting straight for me.
I spun to the right, reached up and caught one of them on the tip of my blade, kept spinning until I faced her again and threw it right back at her. She screeched as the red globe kissed along the edge of her face, searing her skin.
Unfortunately, it did nothing but piss her off. “You are not the only one with a familiar. Would you like to meet mine? I do have a penchant for bears.”
Oh . . . fuck. A roar echoed through the air and sent shivers racing down my spine. I partially turned, afraid to take my eyes fully from Madeline. From the other side of the valley came a grizzly bear, running at full speed, his jowls hanging, teeth bared, eyes wild.
But a second roar cut the air. Madeline and I both spun as a bear even bigger than the grizzly raced to intersect him, his fur as white as snow.
“Mac.” I whispered his name as he slammed into the grizzly. The two bears went down roaring and snarling, tumbling over and over as they fought for dominance. No, not dominance. A kill.
I took the distraction and used it, leaping at Madeline. Her eyes widened. This was my edge. She might be stronger, she might have more magic than me, but I would fight with everything I had. I crashed into her, mimicking the bears as I took her to the ground. She put her hands against my chest and the wind was sucked right out of my lungs so fast, if they hadn’t been injured before, I knew they would be now.
Embrace me, and we will have her dead. You will be safe.
Panic clawed at me. To embrace the darkness now was suicide—I felt it all the way to my bones. But without the magic helping me, my death was a sure thing.
I fought to breathe, and even then, I didn’t slow my attack, but she was already out from under me, laughter ringing in my ears as the sounds of the bears roaring in the distance told me that if I didn’t win, Mac would be hers. I could feel him, he was close to killing the grizzly.
I stared up at her from my knees. She approached me, reached out and cupped my chin with her fingers. “So much potential, if not for those bands. I would have liked to face you at your full strength. Someone like me. A half-breed bastard.”
My mouth was open as if that would help me breathe. My heart was beating wildly and then it began to slow.
Mac made his killing blow, and then he was coming for me, giving me his energy. Only all the energy in the world wouldn’t help me break through this.
My eyes rolled up as I fell forward, face down in the turf.
Embrace . . .
And for just a moment, I thought I heard Oka’s voice echo the word. Embrace the magic. Do what you must to survive.
For Oka, I let down every barrier I had as death crawled through me. So did my magic, and the full power of it shocked me. There was nothing of life in this magic, nothing good, or clean, or of beauty.
I saw it in its fullness as it blended into my bones, seeped into my skin, finally havi
ng my consent to do so. Black oil, the color of Raven’s hair, the darkness of a grave, the black of old blood.
Death magic. And it was mine to use.
I dug my fingers into the soil and sent a surge of power through the earth until I found Madeline’s feet. The magic crawled up her boots, up her legs, she had no idea until I drove it into her belly, like a sharp knife she couldn’t see, or pull out.
The wind came back to me in a rush and I sucked in a huge breath with flecks of dirt that left me wobbly and light-headed. I pushed up to see what I’d done to her.
Madeline stared down at her belly, at the wound there. Not just any wound, but one that gaped and flapped, her innards spilling out into her hands, like I’d clawed her with Oka’s tiger’s claws.
Her eyes lifted to mine and I knew that the reprieve on my lungs was temporary.
The magic sung in my veins as I leapt to my feet and crossed the short distance between her and me.
She flicked a hand at me and I dodged the blow, catching it on my right wrist. Bone snapped, but my hand remained.
With a scream, I tackled her to the ground, knowing I had to work fast. The air rushed out of her as we landed, and blood flecked my face.
I drove an elbow into the hollow of her throat. I drove it in as hard as I could, powered in part by lust for her blood that the magic fed. Something cracked, and her eyes bugged out as she grabbed at her neck.
She gargled something at me. I looked her in the face and whispered, “Cat got your tongue?”
Oka would have loved it.
Madeline swung a red glowing hand at me. Death magic if I ever saw it. I lifted an arm, blocking her as she reached for me. I used my other hand to grab the handle of my blade and slash at her arm.
The red in her hand faded as the lower half of her arm fell.
“One down,” I snarled.
She screamed, and the sound amplified, booming in my ears. I screamed with her as I fell backward, grabbing at my head. I rolled on the ground away from her, fighting to stay awake as the pain smashed between my ears.
As fast as it had come on, it was over. I rolled to my knees. The scene in front of me was about as bad as it could have gotten.
Mac ran flat out at Madeline, his fur tinged with blood in multiple places. Behind him the grizzly lay dead.
From the ground, her stumped arm holding her guts, she raised her other hand. She looked over her shoulder at me, blood on her lips. “Say goodbye to your teddy bear.”
The red tendrils spread out from her hand once more and shot toward Mac as he barreled toward her.
“Mac!” I screamed his name, but he stayed focused on his target.
I sent the magic through the ground again, but this time she’d set a shield around her body, repelling the magic.
She wove her own magic faster until the tendrils reached Mac, wrapping around him like a living vine of death. Faster and faster she wove them over and under each other, until his fluffy white fur was barely visible.
He ran harder, until she caught him around his legs.
She dropped him. I reached her and grabbed an ankle.
Mac’s blue eyes met mine and his sorrow fed through our bond as clear as day. I shook my head. “Nope. Not losing two of you.”
Magic was not going to work on her shield. Fine, I’d settle for smashing the shit out of her.
My fist connected hard and my knuckles split, the broken fingers screaming, but I got the desired effect and the vines around Mac eased off. Her attention was once more on me.
It was only then I noticed her wounds were healed.
“That’s not possible.” I stared at her belly, her skin smooth and scar-free. If she could heal that fast, there was no way I’d kill her.
Hell, and for a moment there, I’d thought I had a chance.
“She drew all the energy from her familiar,” Mac roared.
Leaving him . . . helpless.
“You’re a monster,” I said as I punched her again, before she could get her magic focused on me. Her head snapped back with a perfect undercut. My mentor would be proud. I kept punching, working her over as if she were bag at the gym. Kidney, belly, head, rinse and repeat.
I ignored the ache in my ribs, the breaks in my fingers and wrist, ignored that her shield was down.
The darkness in me rose as the smell of blood filled my nostrils and the magic . . . fucking giggled.
She’d hurt Mac. She’d turned Oka to stone. She’d killed members of my pack.
Take her magic, Pamela. Absorb it for your own, so you will never be weak again. The whispered words called to me and I grabbed Madeline’s face with my hand, digging my fingers into her skin. She was screaming, I heard her but there was nothing in the void with me but that voice.
My mother’s voice.
I am your mother. I am the witch who bore you. I am the one who makes you strong. I am the darkness that will save you. Take her power, Pamela. And I will train you. You are ready now to learn the truth of your blood. To be the death witch you were meant to be.
I held her face, the words humming along in me, like truths of my soul that I’d ignored for my whole life. I was death. How had I not seen it before? I’d been killing for years, why would this surprise me? It didn’t.
No . . . Oka’s voice cut through it, grounding me. That’s not who you are. You are not a killer, not like that. You are a protector, Pamela, do not believe these lies.
I let go of Madeline’s face and stumbled back from her, fear shaking me to the core. “No, no, I am not that person.”
I clutched at my own head as if I could block out the words, the noise, the seduction of what the darkness sung to me. I craved strength, to protect those I loved, but not at that cost.
I’d embraced the darkness, and here was the cost. To see the true colors of my heart.
Madeline’s laughter caught me off guard. “So, you are tormented, are you? Better then that I take your power. We’re done here, little witch. And I will take the children too now, thank you very much.”
I blinked a few times as I fought to get my shaking under control. But she was forgetting one thing above all else.
I was a survivor. And I’d been surviving for years without any magic.
Madeline stood over me, her power circling her, crackling through the air. My hands found one of my blades on the ground beside me. I grabbed it and launched forward.
In one bold swipe, I sliced her foot off while she stood on it. She screamed, a high-pitched noise that sounded like a pig at the slaughterhouse as she fell to the ground.
I stumbled to my feet, breathing hard as Madeline bled out, more worried about her life now than me standing over her. I could feel Mac . . . injured but alive.
Shaking, I stared down at her. It was almost over.
“Who are you?” I asked. “What elementals are you born from?”
She gave me no intelligible answer. Nope, she just hissed at me. Yeah, actually hissed.
I took a few steps back, because I was no fool when it came to a fight. The magic in me swirled outward in a thick mist and she rolled away, dodging its touch.
“No, I will do this without you!” I snarled at the magic.
Madeline stared at me. “Broken, you are broken and that makes you weak.” A forked tongue flicked out of her mouth and large fangs dropped from the roof of her mouth.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?”
Before my eyes, she transformed into a huge, green-scaled snake easily fifteen feet long. I tightened my hold on the one blade. But she didn’t face me, no, she spun and slithered away.
“Don’t you know it’s not polite to leave without being excused? Remember your manners, bitch.” I leapt forward, landing on the back end of her tail and pinned her down. She bled from a squared-off stump from her tail, which apparently was where her foot had been, as she struggled to get away from me.
Fear drove her, and in her fear, her magic fled. Panic was never pretty.
Mac
stumbled to my side, bleeding and bruised but alive and on two feet. He dropped next to me and grabbed her middle. “She isn’t a shifter.”
“Agreed. Some elementals can shift,” I said as I wrestled with the writhing muscles. She swung her face around and Mac caught her behind her head with one hand. Her eyes bugged out and her fangs dripped with venom.
“Look at her eyes,” Mac said.
I did and shivered. Her eyes were one of the most haunting things about her. Dark as her heart. It was as if the night swam in them. They were the complete opposite of any shifter I’d ever known. Mac’s eyes were blue, but . . . he was special. He wasn’t a true shifter, but a familiar.
“Pamela, finish this,” Mac grunted, as he fought to hold her. She’d managed to get a loop of her body around one of Mac’s legs, was squeezing him. Hard.
“I need to ask her one more question,” I said. I pressed my hands hard into her flesh, blocking her from connecting to her elemental magic. Her eyes bugged further.
“Who owns you, Madeline?”
She screeched and writhed, her body slamming into me, and throwing me hard to the ground, a thick chunk of her tail hitting me in the back, knocking the wind out of me again. I managed to avoid a second blow and stared up at where Mac still held her.
He twisted her around as he fought to keep her under control. She faced me and her eyes rolled, her mouth opened . . . and her neck snapped sideways.
Mac let her go. “That wasn’t me.”
“What happened?” I didn’t understand.
He stared down at her. “Broken from within. Some magic I don’t understand did this.”
Her body went limp and shifted partway back to her human form.
Part human, part snake was not a good look. I pushed what was left of her tail away from me.
I let myself just breathe for a good two minutes before I looked at Mac. “How did you get here so fast?”
He smiled. “Paul was a double agent. I smelled the lie on him when you asked how long it would be. I beat the shit out of him the second you were gone. He told me she was far closer than we realized so I . . . followed you.”
He lifted a hand and rubbed a knuckle over my cheek. “You’re pretty beat up.”
Aimless Witch (Questing Witch Series Book 1) Page 25
