I slipped through the gate and around the back, heading toward the porch. Stripes of light glowed between the cracks in the curtains. A wind chime lay, twisted and broken, on the ground next to a beam of wood supporting the roof.
Magic vibrated across my skin, singing the current of the spell. He hadn’t encircled his whole yard, just the area around his house, and not far out. So, he was moreworried about B&E than Peeping Toms. Interesting.
What did he do about pizza deliveries?
I pulled out my sword as that cold lump of power inside me started to grow. It ate away the edges of the fire, cannibalizing my power.
What in holy hades?I braced my hand to my chest.
My heart started to beat faster, and I had no idea why. Sweat beaded on my forehead and upper lip. My chest constricted, squeezing the breath out of my lungs, nearly cutting off my air supply.
The cold power throbbed now, pounding outward. Taking over. Stifling.
I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the fire. On the power I knew how to control. Otherwise, I’d be a sitting duck for this mage, unable to throw magic of my own, and when my sword ran out of stored power, equally unable to slice through his attacks.
“Ifeelyou.”
I jumped in fright at the horrible rasp that crawled over my skin like a centipede, and spun. Rocks flew out from all around me, focused in their assault. They struck a human man with a crooked smile and unusually widened eyes standing within a cluster of bamboo. The bamboo stalks bowed away from him, creaking, before swinging back andthwappinghis body.
Did I do that?
He staggered out, his hands raised to ward theattack away, but his smile grew. He rose into the sky, feet completely off the ground, and shoved his hands backward. His shoulders popped out of the sockets. The cluster of bamboo snapped and cracked before flattening like gale-force winds had blown through it. Then the plants ripped up from the ground. Dirt clung to their roots before the whole lot was flung away by unseen hands.
Holy balls, that was a lot of power. I wasn’t facing a mage, but a demon who had complete control over a human’s body.
I felt my hands fist as an uncomfortable truth accosted me.
It wasthedemon. The level five. I could feel the strength of his power smacking against me, pulsing in time to the coldness within. Pushing down my fire.
“You are afraid,” the demon-man said in that strange rasp that made me feel covered in crawling insects. “Are you the one I seek? I feel you.”
“You mentioned that. Didn’t you know it’s not polite to feel people without their permission? You can’t hang around with humans if you don’t play by the rules.” I didn’t let my fear overcome me. Instead, I charged.
A push of air hit me, but I was already swinging my sword. The blade cut through the demon-man’s power, my stored fire power slicing into the hard air aroundhim. I came up, my blade aiming between his legs. He flinched as I cut up his thigh.
“What power is that?” he boomed.
I cut through another attempt to grab me, feeling the sword suck at my power. But all it could reach was the cold. It couldn’t draw on the fire.
Did that matter? Could it channel this new power? I had no idea.
“Show yourself,” the creature yelled. Its feet hit the ground and it waffled before turning to run. It had to be running low on power. That was good news.
“I’m right here. Quit running away, damn you.” I chased it, stumbling when my foot hit a divot in the dirt.
It shoved its hand at me, clearly trying to push me away. I cut through its attempt, ripped out my gun, and fired—all in one smooth movement. Kinda. The bullet punched a hole in its stomach that immediately welled up with blood. It flinched with the knock of impact, but showed no signs of pain.
I aimed for the head this time. The gun roared, but the demon-man jerked away. Fast little sucker.
Another push of its hand, but its power was definitely weakening. I cut through the spell easily, as I had done before.
“The definition of crazy is repeatedly trying the same thing and expecting different results,” I said,readying for another attack. “But can demons really be called sane?”
I rushed at him and slashed, catching his arm. The blade sailed clean through. The demon-man’s flesh sizzled, the wound immediately cauterized.
I’d never seen that happen, not even with vampires.
The human face contorted into something truly heinous before stretching into a non-human, jagged-toothed grin. “Highness.” The human body split down the middle, like a seam that had just been unzipped. Great black wings stretched into the sky as the skin fell away. A strange, trollish face with a protruding snout and inch-long pointed teeth gaped at me. Despite its lack of lips, it was still able to talk. “You have not learned your power. We can help you. Guide you. Prepare you to step into your intended role.”
