“He’s alive.” Ezra almost sounded calm, but panic edged his voice. “I don’t want to move him. I don’t know how bad …”
He grabbed my door handle and pulled. Metal creaked, but the door didn’t move. He wrenched on it. With a loud snap, it gave way and he staggered backward. Catching his balance, he leaned across me and unbuckled my seatbelt.
“What about Kai?” I whimpered, fighting back hysteria. “He fell. I couldn’t see where he—where—”
“We’ll find him next. He’ll be okay. The pavement was wet so he could slide. He knows how to fall safely. He—” Ezra stopped, seeming to realize he was babbling. His hands cupped my face. I could feel them shaking. “We’ll all be okay, Tori.”
He was as scared as I was. I gulped down my terror and blinked away tears. “Help me out.”
Nodding, he slid his hands down to my shoulders and gently drew me forward. I grabbed the doorframe to heave myself out.
Light bloomed across us. I squinted, half blinded. Blood streaked down Ezra’s face from a cut at his hairline.
He turned toward the light source. Sticking my head out of the car, I spotted a pair of headlights. Someone had seen the accident and come to help us! Wheels grinding over a gravel track, the vehicle lit up the side of a featureless warehouse twenty yards away. Aaron’s car had come to a stop at the edge of an industrial lot.
As the vehicle approached, my relief sputtered out. Cold fear sparked in its place.
“Ezra,” I gasped. “That’s—that’s the same SUV! It—”
The vehicle stopped, its high beams pointed at our car like twin spotlights. The doors opened. Three men climbed out.
Ezra didn’t move, frozen in place. Then he spun to face me. “Tori, get Aaron and Kai, and get out of here.”
“But—”
“I’ll lure them away, distract them. They’re after me, but they might—I won’t let them hurt you. Just get Aaron and Kai away, please.”
“Ezra—”
He darted toward the dark warehouse. Laughing, the three familiar silhouettes jogged after him. Burke, Halil, and Fenton were in no hurry to catch Ezra. This was exactly what they’d wanted: a secluded battlefield where they could test themselves against a demon mage’s power.
They ran out of the SUV’s headlights and vanished in the darkness. I heaved myself out of the car and into the cold rain. Bracing against the crumpled hood for balance, I stumbled to the driver’s side, my legs weak and aching. Aaron’s window was broken too, and the frame was bent around the door. No matter how hard I heaved, it wouldn’t budge, and I wasn’t as strong as Ezra. It was jammed shut.
“Aaron?” I crouched to look through the window, panic twisting through me. He hadn’t stirred, slouched over the steering wheel with blood running from a contusion on his forehead.
I touched his face and was relieved to find his skin warm. He was unconscious and I shouldn’t move him. What if he had a spinal injury? What if—
Pounding footsteps on the gravel reached me through the rain. I jerked upright, terrified one of the Keys had come back. No one appeared in their SUV’s lights, but the footsteps were growing louder. I whirled around.
A man’s silhouette ran out of the darkness. He was dressed in black and carrying something round in one hand.
“Kai!” I wailed, so relieved I almost collapsed.
He dropped his helmet on the gravel and came to a panting stop, his horrified stare locked on the destroyed car. “Tori! You—Aaron? Ezra?”
I snatched his arm and hauled him over to the driver’s door. “Ezra led the Keys off that way. Aaron is unconscious and I can’t get the door open. We need an ambulance. We need—”
“The Keys? It was them?” Kai grabbed the door and yanked, but he couldn’t open it either. “Ezra—he can’t—he needs—we should—”
He broke off with a heartfelt curse, and my fragile composure threatened to shatter as his shaky voice fell silent. The guys were always so steady, so tough. Nothing was supposed to frazzle them.
With a soft groan, Aaron lifted his head. Kai and I crammed ourselves against the window as he fell back into his seat, one hand pressed to his face.
“What …” he mumbled. “What happened?”
“Aaron, how bad are you hurt?” Kai asked urgently.
“Feel okay, minus my head.” He squinted around, horror dawning on his face. “Shit, I remember. We flipped—I felt Ezra buffer us with his magic, but—where is he?”
As I explained where Ezra had gone, he unbuckled his seatbelt and tried the door handle. Kai pulled from the outside while Aaron pushed from the inside, but it was well and truly jammed. Giving up, Aaron crawled across the center console and clambered out the open passenger door. He and Kai rushed to the trunk, and Aaron wrenched it open.
“We have to get to Ezra.” He threw Kai his armored vest and katana. “Uninjured and full strength, he might be able to take them, but not—”
He cut himself off as though he didn’t want to finish the thought. He lifted out Sharpie. With his other hand, he passed me my new combat belt. Three alchemy bombs had miraculously survived, but I didn’t have a chance to check for the missing one before Aaron thrust Ezra’s pole-arm at me. I caught the heavy weapon and commanded my trembling limbs to steady. Rain ran down our faces.
“Which way, Tori?” Kai demanded as he slid his vest on.
I pointed at the warehouse, and they started running while still buckling on their weapons. I took a few steps after them, then pulled up short, clutching Ezra’s weapon. Darting back to the open passenger door, I reached inside. My searching fingers found my purse jammed under the dash.
My hand met a round sphere, and I pulled it out. “Hoshi?”
The silvery-blue orb shuddered but didn’t uncoil. Praying the sylph wasn’t hurt, I stuffed her into the back pouch of my belt and sprinted after the guys as they vanished around the corner of the warehouse. My limbs throbbed painfully.
Around the corner, minimal light from the SUV penetrated the darkness, but a faint glow flickered out of a steel door hanging open with the handle broken off. I ran inside. Two dozen yards ahead, firelight cast a sharp silhouette over Aaron, the flames dancing above his palm as he and Kai jogged across the room.
Metal pillars, concrete walls, railings, and overhead beams broke up the massive space. It wasn’t a warehouse but a factory—though judging by the garbage strewn across the floor, the rust, and the water leaking through the roof, it had been abandoned for years. Aaron and Kai passed a disused forklift, then skirted around something on the floor.
Light very different from Aaron’s fire flashed.
The magical glow swept across the floor and both guys fell as though their feet had been yanked out from under them. They hit the concrete and skidded across it, dragged by an invisible force. Scrabbling in vain for purchase, they slid to a dark patch on the floor and fell into blackness.
“Guys!” My cry echoed off the bare walls.
A stomach-turning crunch answered me, and I sprinted to where they’d disappeared. The magical glow faded and darkness plunged over the space.
Firelight erupted again, emanating from a ten-foot-wide hole where the floor had collapsed. Glinting near its edge was a silver pyramid—the artifact that had dragged its victims into the hole.
Aaron and Kai were twelve feet down, hemmed in by old machinery and a concrete wall. A rusted steel beam lay amidst the debris—it must have fallen and punched a hole through the floor, years ago by the looks of it. Holding a palmful of fire, Aaron was crouched beside Kai, who was lying on his back.
“Aaron! Kai!” I dropped onto my hands and knees and set Ezra’s pole-arm aside. “Are you okay?”
“I landed on him,” Aaron said tersely. “Shit, I’m sorry, Kai. Are you hurt?”
“I’ll live,” Kai panted. “You—”
A boom shook the floor. Equipment rattled and dust drifted from the ceiling.
Aaron’s pale face looked up at me, his eyes wide and jaw c
lenched. “That’s Ezra.”
I glanced deeper into the building, seeing no sign of the battle that had triggered the explosion, then looked back at Aaron and the twelve-foot wall of the pit. “Can you get up that?”
In answer, he backed up as far as he could, then ran at the wall. Leaping, he scrambled up the vertical surface. I lunged forward and caught his wrist. His shoes scuffed the wall, but he slipped and fell backward. His weight wrenched my arms, then he dropped back into the pit.
I grabbed the edge, stopping myself an instant before I fell in after him. Another distant explosion shook the floor.
“Try again!” I cried desperately.
Aaron backed up, then sprinted a second time. He sprang at the wall, scrambled up it, and I grabbed his wrist again—but my grip instantly started to slip. I wasn’t strong enough. He didn’t have enough room to get a running head start, there was nothing to grab on to, and I couldn’t—
Hoshi burst out of my belt pouch in a whirl of silver and blue. She dove over my head and grabbed the back of Aaron’s shirt.
Half his weight disappeared. I heaved, my muscles screaming. Tail lashing, Hoshi pulled. Aaron grabbed the edge with his free hand. He hauled himself out and we sprawled across the dirty ground.
Aaron sat up, and we both turned back to the pit. Panting, Kai grabbed a piece of machinery and pulled himself to his feet—without putting any weight on his left leg.
“I’m stuck,” he said shortly. “Go help Ezra.”
“But—”
“Go!” he shouted.
Aaron gave a sharp nod and pushed to his feet. My lungs squeezing at the thought of leaving Kai trapped in that hole with an injured leg, I sprang up after Aaron.
Whirling around, he grabbed me and crushed me to his chest.
Fire exploded—but not from Aaron. Scorching flames tore over us in a red and gold maelstrom, their roar deafening. Heat pounded against me, sucking the air from my lungs. Aaron’s arms and magic were all that was keeping me alive.
He thrust his hand out. The flames scattered, releasing us from their suffocating embrace. Pushing me away, he whipped around.
Halil walked toward us, fire coating his massive sword. He was so tall, so strong, that the heavy length of steel seemed weightless in his grasp. The brass knuckles on his other hand glinted in the firelight as he rubbed his jaw.
“Thought I heard something,” he remarked. “Looks like my little spell caught one of you.”
I was tempted to glance at the pyramid artifact, but I kept my glare locked on him. “Where’s Ezra?”
“Burke and Fenton are having fun with the demon mage.” Halil smirked. “It’s a shame, actually. The boy got too banged up in that rollover, we think. Not moving as fast this time. Burke is disappointed.”
“You almost killed us all,” I hissed.
“Oh, but don’t you realize?” His sunken eyes glinted. “We’re going to kill you all anyway. You’re defending a demon mage. Your fate is the same as his.”
He swung his huge sword and a wall of flame surged at us. I ducked behind Aaron and the fire broke over him like a wave over stone, charring his clothes but not harming him. As the fire died, Hoshi poked her nose out from the pit where she was hiding.
“You’re good, Sinclair.” Halil smiled hungrily. “It’s been a long time since I fought a pyromage I couldn’t burn.”
Aaron drew Sharpie. “Then why don’t we see if I can burn you?”
He planted one hand against the flat of the blade, then whipped his weapon through the air. An inferno roared out of the steel and the white-hot fire crashed over Halil. The man reappeared, his clothes smoking and a smirk on his thin lips.
“In that case,” Aaron snarled, “I’ll just have to run you through instead.”
He set his feet, then he and Halil charged each other.
I retreated as they collided in an earsplitting clang of steel. More fire burst over them as they sought to overpower the other with either magic or brute strength. Aaron slid backward, outweighed and probably out-muscled by the larger man.
They slammed their swords together again, fire bursting everywhere. The flames formed flickering patterns as though the mages were trying to summon more complex attacks, but they were too evenly matched and disrupted the other’s attempts over and over.
Breaking apart for an instant, they clashed again, steel ringing. Swinging their weapons, they parried violently and Aaron gave way. Halil drove him backward and Aaron stumbled on the uneven floor.
In that instant of distraction, Halil took one hand off his sword hilt, fingers balled into a tight fist. His brass knuckles gleamed.
“Ori amplifico!”
He punched Aaron in the side—and Aaron flew backward like he’d been hit by a speeding car. He crashed to the floor, and his sword slid away with a clatter.
My whole body froze in panic. Halil had used that same artifact on Ezra with no effect aside from a boom of air—but Ezra must have countered it with his own magic. Aaron didn’t have that ability, and Halil’s hit had thrown him ten feet. He was clutching his side, unable to rise.
Grinning, Halil strode toward Aaron, flames rippling over his broadsword.
I launched forward, my hand scrabbling at my belt. My fingers closed around a smooth glass sphere and I locked my focus on Halil. The mage looked up, smirking in cruel amusement at the thought of me trying to fight him.
Six feet away, and just before I entered the reach of his sword, I whipped the sphere at his face.
He whacked it out of the air, but it shattered against his hand. I squeezed my eyes shut against the blinding flash as an earsplitting bang pierced my eardrums. Eyes flying open, I lunged at him, my fall crystal in my other hand. All I had to do was touch it to his skin and he would go down.
I reached for him—and his fist swung out. I whipped my arm up and his knuckles struck my forearm, throwing me backward. The fall spell flew out of my hand as agony flared through my wrist, but adrenaline numbed the pain. I staggered for balance, relieved the punch had lacked the power of his brass knuckles’ spell.
I coiled to leap at him again, but he pointed his hand at me. Fire flared over his palm and launched for me in a boiling wave.
Hoshi dove in front of me. Wind swirled in a mini tornado around us, and the fire was swept into the spiral. Everything turned red. The heat blasted my skin, but the flames didn’t touch me.
Halil burst through the fiery whirlwind, blade swinging. The flat side caught Hoshi in the chest, hurling her out of the air. Then his other hand flashed out and grabbed me by the throat. His skin, hot as a stovetop, burned my neck and I screamed. I scrabbled at his scorching fist and brass knuckles.
He drew his sword back to strike. Snatching wildly at my belt, I grabbed my second-last glass orb and smashed it against his face.
With a shout of pain, he let me go. I fell, my nails dragging over his hand and catching on his brass knuckles. They came off in my grasp as I crumpled to the floor amidst a rapidly expanding cloud of smoke that hid everything more than three feet away.
Fire ignited above me—Halil, readying a new attack. Gasping, I rolled away from him as a second inferno erupted.
Aaron appeared out of the fog, a fiery wraith with a sword—his torso wreathed in white flames and rippling heat. He slammed his blade into Halil’s and a cannon blast of white-blue fire leaped from him, hitting the Keys man in the chest.
Halil howled in agony. The flaming assault died, but the remains of Halil’s shirt were still burning. His skin was black and blistering, his face streaked with blood and peppered with shards of glass.
He stumbled back a step, then bared his bloody teeth. “You think this will stop me?” he snarled, raising his sword again. “You think after the demons I’ve fought you could ever—”
He jolted forward, then twisted to look over his shoulder. A small silver knife stuck out of his lower back.
Leaping out of the pit directly behind him, a bolt of lightning struck the knife. Cr
ackling white power engulfed Halil’s body. Convulsing, he collapsed backward, hit the edge of the pit, and tumbled into it.
The lightning dispersed as Halil hit the ground with a crunch.
Trying not to whimper, I crawled to the edge and looked down, but I couldn’t see anything in the darkness. Faint silvery light bloomed. Hoshi undulated over to me and her softly glowing body illuminated the interior of the hole.
Drawn sword in hand, Kai leaned against a bank of machinery, sneering at the pyromage crumpled on the ground a few feet from him. I didn’t know if Halil was unconscious or dead, and I didn’t care.
Panting harshly, Aaron hobbled to the edge too. “You okay, Kai?”
“Fine.” He still wasn’t putting any weight on his leg. “Hurry!”
Aaron straightened with a pronounced wince, his hand pressed tightly to his ribs.
“Hoshi, stay with Kai,” I said breathlessly, reinforcing the words with a mental image of what I wanted.
As she drifted down into the pit and Aaron sheathed Sharpie over his shoulder, I stumbled to my feet and raced to retrieve Ezra’s pole-arm. When I grabbed it, agony speared my palm and it fell from my grasp.
Shards of glass were sticking out of my bloody hand. Teeth gritted, I pulled out the big pieces, then grabbed the pole-arm again, ignoring the pain. A deep, worrying throb filled the wrist I’d used to block Halil’s punch, but I ignored that too.
Red glinted on the dirty floor. I grabbed my fall spell and stuffed it back in my belt, along with Halil’s brass knuckles.
Aaron conjured a small flame to light our way. As he limped behind me, holding his chest, I hurried deeper into the abandoned factory. Half my attention was on spotting more booby traps, while panicked questions consumed the other half. How long had that battle taken? Was Ezra still alive? Was he still fighting? Was he—
A deep boom rattled the walls, and directly ahead, a brief crimson glow illuminated the pillars and equipment blocking our path. I ran forward, then stopped to scan the machinery for a way past.
“There,” Aaron panted, pointing with his palmful of fire. Off to the side, a metal ladder connected the ground level to the steel mezzanine twenty feet above.
Demon Magic and a Martini: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Four Page 18
