“What the fuck?” Cass spat, the hairs on the tops of his ears standing straight. “Hurry, Ev. Drive like the wind. Something bad happened while we were gone.”
My skin crawled at the truth of his statement. The air smelled like sulfur and oil.
Demons.
I pressed the pedal to the metal, and we hurtled down the road, signs of chaos erupting all around us.
20Hell Runneth Over
That bitch.I was going to kill her.
I ground the truck to a halt in front of Brock’s house, and flung the door open. “Molly, take the grimoire to the cabin and lock the door behind you.”
Water was flooding onto Brock’s land. As if a lake had overflowed onto the property, water cascaded down the hill, right up to the back porch of Gran’s small cottage. The only person with enough power to conjure that much water was a siren.
“Calista?” Molly asked, grabbing the grimoire from me and jumping down from the truck.
“Yes,” I ground out, the word an angry slither.
It was pitch dark, and from the sound of the howling wolves, Brock and his pack were deep in the woods that surrounded the property. Probably hunting the siren.
I reached into the truck to grab my katana. I was hoping it held some untold powers that would magically make me badass enough to kill this woman.
“Are you sure you don’t need me? I’m handy with a shotgun,” Molly offered, hesitating with the grimoire clutched to her chest.
“I need you to keep that grimoire safe and protect my Gran’s cabin. Call me if it starts flooding.”
Molly nodded reluctantly, and sulked toward the path that led down the hill. She wanted to be a part of the action, I got that, but if Calista saw Molly as a weak point, she’d capitalize on it and Molly would pay the price. She wasn’t even an official bounty hunter apprentice yet.
“Cass, make sure she gets to Gran’s safely, then fly to meet me,” I rattled off to my bestie while I pulled spell vials from my bag. A stun spell, smoke spell, and a glass spell should do it.
Cass frowned. “You sure? Sounds like a big fight out there.”
Lifting my katana, I wrapped both hands around the hilt. A purple glow flashed along the length of the blade, signaling some magical property I had yet to explore. “I’ve got this thing. I’ll be fine. And Molly is human, remember?”
We both realized I didn’t know how to use the sword yet, but we also couldn’t let Molly get killed. Calista was a daunting foe. The siren was more powerful than ever, and Molly couldn’t get roped into this fight.
Cass pulled his hovering skateboard from the truck, and threw a golden ball of magic at it. Then he leapt on top and floated down the hill in Molly’s wake. Tightening my grip, I held my katana in one hand and my gun in the other.
Time to find and end this bitch. I was now 99.9% sure she’d killed Gran, and I had every intention of exacting my revenge.
I started at a slow jog toward the growls and baying. It was late, but the moon glowed with a fevered intensity, illuminating every blade of grass and tall tree. About halfway into the woods, I began to use my nose, picking up on the distinct scents of werewolf, and Brock’s pack specifically. But something else was also there, something distinctly sulfuric and oily.
Cass must’ve picked up on my thoughts.‘That’s not good. Definitely a demon in nature.’
‘How far back are you?’I peeked over my shoulder just in time to see him gliding along his skateboard like a teenager with no curfew.
When he got within reach, I put my gun away briefly and handed him the stun spell. You didn’t need to be a witch to set these off, just break it over your intended target and boom, stunned.
Had the siren brought reinforcements? Or had something snuck through the gate that I was supposed to be guarding? Both prospects had me leery.
The water was deeper here. I was forced to wade, the water level past my ankles and gushed downhill like a river.
“How is she so powerful? This is unheard of for an ordinary siren,” I told Cass. When we’d originally captured her, she’d been a tough mark, but nothing like this.
“Maybe she’s not ordinary,” Cass offered.
That simple yet enlightening comment set off a light bulb in my head, and I stopped dead in my tracks. “Do you think she’s witch bound?” I hissed.
