Death spell, p.2
Death Spell, page 2
Holding onto the wall behind me, I stood up. My legs shook again, to remind me why I was afraid. I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t slept properly in days. My magic was barely there. It needed pain to fuel it, and around here, there wasn’t nearly as much pain in people as back home. There were no battles here, no war. My magic also needed my physical strength to function, and I couldn’t give it any.
But I was still an elf.
“Careful,” Hiss whispered when I stepped to the side of the crates and made my way to the main street. If that terran man wanted something from me, he was going to have to fight me for it.
My senses searched the street for pain even before I stepped on the asphalt. There was nobody there. I searched the darkness and the lights hovering over the streets, but I found no eyes looking back at me. That was reassurance enough. With my hands in my pockets, I turned right and started walking fast, giving the Shade the image of the small room it had found for me, on the second floor of a house that nobody had even been to since I’d gotten here.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
I heard the footsteps first, then the hiss. My entire body froze. Hiss was right behind me, and he was no longer moving, either. Instead, he was hissing at someone. Ordering my heart to slow down its beating, I turned my head back.
The terran was right there, smiling at me.
The long black coat he had on hung loose over his thin frame. His arms were by his sides, fingers spread wide as he watched me.
If I’d had any doubts when I first saw him, they were all gone now. This man definitely knew who I was.
Pulling my hands into fists, I called for my magic. If he wanted trouble, I would give him trouble. And if I died trying, it was a better fate than starving to death.
But…
“Are you sure it’s her, Bo-bo?”
The voice came from somewhere behind me, and it was a woman. I jumped around, more afraid than I had been back in Mace’s castle in Gaena. The green lights in the air gave away the location of the woman right away. She’d been half hiding behind the corner of the building on the other side of the street, and when she saw me looking, she proudly stepped into my view. She was a couple of inches shorter than the man, with dark hair cut close to her chin, a leather jacket similar to the one I wore, and a blade in her right hand. It wasn’t long, but the tip of it gleamed green under the lights. And the way she held it, with such ease, said she’d grown used to that handle a long time ago.
“I think so,” the man said, calling my eyes back to him. Hiss wrapped himself around my leg and slithered up to my torso. “I mean, they all look the same to me, to be honest. Fucking elves.” He spit on the ground like he was as disgusted by the sight of me as a fae would be.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I asked. I sounded a lot stronger than I felt.
“Hush, little elf,” the woman said, and she started walking toward me. The man did the same.
My magic buzzed in my chest, searching for strength to fuel it. Fear wasn’t doing it, and there was no anger inside me. I couldn’t be angry at Mace for sending these people to find me—how could I? I was the one who left.
Stepping back, I raised my arms to my sides. Whatever magic I had left, I would use it. If my time to die had come, so be it. I had been ready for a long time now.
“Don’t come any closer,” I warned them, my magic already slipping inside their bodies, searching for energy. For pain.
There wasn’t any. They were in perfect health.
“Don’t worry, elf,” the man said, barely five feet away from me now. “We’re here to help you, okay? You’re weak. You’ve been wandering around for days now. We can give you a place to stay. We can give you food. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” His voice dripped hatred.
Hiss snapped his jaws in the air at the man, and he stopped walking—but only to laugh. He laughed, both his hands to his chest like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. On my other side, the woman had stopped, too, her dagger in front of her as she smiled. From so close up, it was easy to see that they were related. Maybe even a brother and sister. They had the same eyes and the same pointy chins. The same wicked smile.
“Let’s just get this over with,” she said and stepped forward again.
“Wait, wait, I’ve gotta keep that thing. Did you know it has wings? By the gods, I’ve never seen anything uglier in my life,” the man said, raising up his hands. “Let me see your face, Ugly. C’mon, come out in the light.”
Hiss slithered his way out of my jacket and snapped his jaws at the man again. It could have been my imagination, but he seemed bigger, heavier just now.
“Stop messing around, Bo-bo. We’ve gotta go. Grab her,” the woman said. Her heart beat steadily in her chest. I wrapped my magic around it as tightly as I could. Any second now…
“You’re no fun, Ari. I’m telling you—that snake has wings. I saw it,” the man complained. “Just give m—”
“For fuck’s sake!” the woman shouted, and she came at me.
I released my magic into her heart as fast as I could.
She was two feet away from me when she froze in place. My magic held her heart still while it spread up to her nerves, paralyzing her in place. Her mouth opened as she tried to draw in air but failed.
“Ari?” the man whispered, but he got no reply.
He decided he no longer wanted to see Hiss’s wings. He came for me, too. I stepped back until I hit the wall of the building behind me, directing my magic around his heart, too, holding it as still as I could. Guiding it with my hands was always better. It gave focus to my magic, but in the condition I was in, doing it with only one hand was difficult. My magic was weak to say the least, but the man still stopped moving.
By then, the woman, Ari, was on her knees. The dagger was still in her hand, and if I wanted a chance to make it out of this alive, I was going to take it from her.
Hiss jumped off me in an instant, spreading his pitch-black wings to the sides to slow his landing, and as soon as he hit the ground, they folded back into his body, disappearing from view. But the man, Bo-bo, was no longer interested in them. His wide eyes were on me. He didn’t even notice Hiss moving closer until he was right in front of him—and he bit him in the shoulder.
The pain was instant. It filled me from head to toe as Hiss continued to bite the side of the man’s neck, over and over, his four curved fangs tearing through skin and flesh, giving me energy. I took it all, every last drop, and my magic came alive inside me.
If only I’d had enough physical strength to endure its release. My body gave up on me just as the woman who’d fallen to her knees somehow put one foot on the ground again. She was pushing hard against me, although her friend was now at the mercy of Hiss. I closed my eyes to help myself focus. I needed more pain, and Hiss was giving it to me. I just needed a moment longer.
But the woman was already on her feet.
I heard her whisper before I opened my eyes to see her chanting. Witches and sorcerers needed to chant to activate their magic here on Earth, and since this woman didn’t have a familiar with her, I could safely assume that she was a witch. And she was strong. Strong enough to push against the hold of my magic around her heart, around her nervous system, and aim her spell at me.
I knew it was coming. I tried to move away, but my body failed me. I’d spent the last of my energy to hold them back, and even though my magic was as alive as ever, it couldn’t do anything to protect me. Her spell was invisible, soundless, and I only felt it in my chest when it wrapped around me, bringing the taste of death on my tongue all over again.
I collapsed so easily, it was ridiculous. My cheek pressed against the cold asphalt, and my magic no longer spread out of me. It snapped back inside, like rubber, and searched for damage to heal. Magical injuries were harder to heal than physical ones, but the effect of the spell the witch had put on me only lasted three seconds. I was elf—our kind withstood magic like nothing else in the world. Their spells could do nothing to me.
But the weakness of my body would make it very easy for them to stab me with that dagger and finish me off.
Hisses and growls from my side, and the man was spitting out curse words as he no doubt tried to catch Hiss. The woman kneeled in front of me, her hand wrapped around the hair at the top of my head, and she pulled me up. There was no smile on her lips now.
She pressed the tip of her dagger against my cheek. Upon contact, my body reacted. I slapped my forehead on her nose as hard as I could.
Not hard enough. It only served to push her away for a second, and then she slapped me. It did me well. The pain fueled my magic and it made me angry. Anger was a lot better than fear.
When she grabbed me by the throat and pulled me up, I held onto her arm until my feet were on the ground. Anger coursed through my veins, giving me a bit of strength, and I called to my magic again. It fell over her like a blanket, squeezing her shoulders, and the grip of her fingers loosened instantly. I grabbed her face in my hands because physical contact was always better when I used my magic. Her eyes opened wide as it slipped inside her skin and searched for her nerves, paralyzing her in place yet again.
This time, I didn’t intend to let her go until it was over.
“You should have left me alone,” I told her when she opened her mouth and tried to breathe. My magic was in her lungs, too. I was going to kill her, and if I felt regret afterward, I would deal with it.
When her legs gave up on her, I let go, too. She fell on the floor on her back, and the dagger slipped from her fingers. I reached out for it, too distracted to tell that there were no more hisses coming from down the street.
The booted foot that slammed against my face was unexpected. It knocked me to the side and threw me against the wall before I could breathe. The man was there, his coat and shirt covered in blood around his left shoulder. He chanted the words of his spell and hit me with it. I felt the impact, but it did nothing but make my heart skip a beat.
He must have realized it, too, because the dagger was in his hand. Hiss slithered on the asphalt behind him, fast, but if the man could tell, he didn’t react. His fist came for my face, and by some miracle, I ducked. He hit the wall behind me, and I kicked him in the side, but I was weak. I didn’t even budge him. Before I could move farther away, he pulled me back by the hair.
The coldness that slipped inside me through the side of my waist froze me. The metal of the dagger was by no means Heivar, but it was still metal. It was still inside me—in my lung.
“Goddamn sonovabitch!” the man shouted, letting go of the dagger still inside me as he tried to get Hiss off him. The pain of his bites up the man’s legs served my magic well, but my body couldn’t heal when the dagger was still inside me. And I couldn’t reach it to get it out.
Shoulder pressed against the wall, I squeezed my eyes shut. I had to do this. I had to kill this man before he killed me. I’d survived my own brother. I’d even survived the fae.
What would Mace think if he saw me now?
When a hand wrapped around the back of my neck, I was ready. I didn’t need to aim—I just turned around and grabbed his face in my hands, just as I’d done with the woman. Upon contact, my magic slipped into his skin, not interested in the pain Hiss’s bites were causing him, but in his heart. In his lungs. In his kidneys—anything that could cause enough damage to give me some time.
“Bitch,” he spit, teeth gritted as he squeezed my throat harder. Little air reached my own lungs—and one of them had already collapsed. I needed that dagger out of me, now.
My mind was weak, my body weaker, and the blood loss was getting to my head fast. That was why, when someone grabbed me by the hair and pulled, I barely even felt my body moving. The woman was on her feet again, angrier than before, and she slammed the heel of her hand onto the dagger’s handle to push it deeper inside me. A scream left my lips before I could stop it. Hiss was wrapped around the man’s legs, biting into everything he could, but the woman had me now. Her arm was around my neck, making sure no air reached my functional lung at all. I grabbed her forearm, but it was useless. Blood poured out of me, drenching the side of my body completely, and my magic tried to heal me. It just couldn’t push the dagger out by itself.
Eventually, the blur turned to complete darkness and my body no longer responded to my commands. I heard hisses and curses, but they were far away already. My magic raged in my chest, all of it focused on my side, mad with need to take the pain and fix the damage. It only made me black out faster.
I didn’t think about death when my mind gave up on me, little by little. Instead, all I was able to think about was Mace. I’d always known that there was a very good chance that I wouldn’t see him again for as long as I lived. Now, at least, I knew for sure that I truly never would.
Chapter 3
My ears rang. Someone must have been holding a bell right next to them, and the sound of it made my soul cringe. Before I remembered to open my eyes, my magic sensed that I was conscious and began to move up and down me, vibrating in my chest.
The fight. The dagger. I remembered it all.
My eyes opened and my mind searched my body for damage. It found none. My left side was a bit tender, and the clothes against my skin were sticky, but there was no pain. There was no wound on me. My magic had healed me while I’d been out.
But I’d still lost a lot of blood. That was why my limbs still felt so heavy.
Where was I?
“Hey, you,” someone whispered. I blinked the blur away, my mind convinced that it would be Hiss—he’d been the only one to speak to me for the past few days. But the voice was a woman’s voice. And I was very sure that I’d never heard it before.
When the view in front of me cleared, I saw her. We were in a small room, as small as the one in Mace’s apartment in the Shade, except this one was even less furnished than his had been. White walls and a floor covered in grey tiles, and both me and the woman were sitting on them. Her back was pressed against the wall to my left. I could see the chains coming from behind her, extending to the other corner of the room and around a thick metal bar that seemed to be welded to the wall.
“Do you have something on you for picking locks? Like a bobby pin or something?”
I blinked my eyes and tried to move my hands. When I did, something rattled against the tiles. Chains. I had thick chains around my wrists, too.
All the blood in my body froze, as if by Winter fae magic. I’d woken up in chains before, but I’d sworn to myself that I would never again be chained to a wall, not for any reason. My magic was already slipping out of my fingertips, searching for a lock to open, answering to my anger, my disgust. When I found the lock, I met resistance. The entire chain was heavily spelled, but my magic was stubborn. I was stubborn. I’d broken locks wrapped in fae magic before. I would break locks made of terran magic, too.
It took me longer than I wanted it to, but my weakness was to blame. None of it mattered when I heard the lock clicking in place, releasing me. I pulled my arms forward and unwrapped the chains from my wrists quickly. As far as I was concerned, they were made of fire. I could only breathe when they were on the floor, no longer touching me.
“How the hell did you do that? What did you use? Throw it my way,” the woman said, calling my eyes to her again.
But she wasn’t a woman. She was a girl, almost a teenager, maybe a couple years older. Her dark red hair was short and matted with blood, going in every direction. Her black jacket was torn in several places, but she seemed all right. There was a throbbing in the back of her head but no major wounds. No pain that I could take.
“Oh, c’mon. Just show me where it is and I’ll get it myself, okay?” She kept looking on the floor around me, searching for something with her wide brown eyes.
Would my legs hold me if I tried to stand?
Only one way to find out.
I pressed my hands against the wall behind me and slowly stood up, looking around the room. There were two doors, one across from me, and one to my right. There was a table between them with more chains on it, a few glass vials half filled with colorful liquids, and a shelf full of boxes mounted on the opposite wall. Where was I? What time was it? There were no windows in the room, and I had no idea how long I’d been out.
And where was Hiss?
I searched every corner of the room with my eyes, and I expected him to jump forward any second, but he didn’t. Fear gripped my insides. Had something happened to him?
My legs carried me. I touched my torso as if to make sure that Hiss wasn’t there, hiding beneath my two jackets, while the girl continued to make her demands.
“For fuck’s sake, elf, look at me! Just help me get out of these chains, okay? I’m only here because of you!”
I was trying to decide which door to open first when I turned to her again. “What do you mean?”
The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. “She speaks,” she muttered. “Look, I’ll tell you all about it, just let me know what you used to get out of those chains. The spell they’ve put on them is too much for my magic to break. Just…please, okay?”
I turned to the door across from me again. “Do you know where we are?” Or who was behind those doors? Without knowing that, I couldn’t hope to make it out of this place alive. Because I had no doubt that if those people caught me and wounded me again, they would not let me live a second time. And I was still weak. Some sleep and some food were going to turn the tables within hours, but I doubted someone here was going to feed me and offer me a bed.
Like Mace had when I was his prisoner.
Regardless. The way out was through one of those doors, and I needed to find it before it was too late. I had no idea what that girl had done to end up here with me, but I was going to unchain her, too. I just needed to know what was out there first so I didn’t put her in danger unnecessarily.
“No idea. Somewhere in New Orleans…wait—what are you doing?” she said when I was a foot away from the door. “Come back here, elf!”
