They were going to try to force it open.
I snapped to my feet and bolted to the right.
‘Cass, you fucker! Where are you?’
We needed to get the hell out of here and get to the gate before they did.
‘Ev!’His muffled voice barely came through. Tianna must have worked on whatever was blocking us.
A sob ripped through my throat when I heard that raspy smoker’s voice.
‘Cass! I’m coming!’
‘Evie! You’re here?’He sounded like he was talking through a pillow, muffled and far away, but it was better than nothing.
I ran blindly through the halls carved from the rock, trying to concentrate on my projections, which ran with me, along with the one I’d left outside the cave entrance, as well as Brock’s footsteps behind me. When I rounded the corner, I caught a sliver of Cass’ pink fur inside an open room.
‘Don’t come for me! It’s a trap!’he screamed into my mind just as I ran into the room, gun drawn.
Thanks to my bounty hunter training, I took in the scene and started shooting. Cass was magically handcuffed to a metal ring that looked cemented into the rock wall. A large, ugly-ass demon was standing off to the right, talking to one of Calista’s sisters. I got three bullets out before a wall of water slammed into me, knocking me backward into Brock.
Oh fuck that.
I’d never been so pissed in all my life. I screamed with rage and leapt into the wall of water. I was a fucking seal, right? I’d swim through this and rip that bitch’s head off her body. My purple magic lashed out wildly as I broke through the wall of water and landed on the other side. Dripping wet, with a useless gun, I pulled my katana.
The siren bitch looked at me, her mouth gaping open in shock. She was holding her abdomen, which was bleeding freely. One of my bullets had found its mark.
But she wasn’t staring at me. One of my illusions stood next to me. That’s what had her transfixed. Brock was roaring on the other side of the wall of water, but I had to push his panicked desperation away.
“Kill her!” the siren roared at the demon, who also looked like he’d taken a bullet.
The demon looked from me to my illusion, and deciding on my projection, leaped straight for it.
Bad idea.
With a battle cry, I surged forward and brought my katana down on the back of his neck, severing his meaty head in one clean slice. I’d never felt that powerful, like my magic was surging wildly through me and lending me super strength. It also felt a little dangerous, like I hadn’t given it direction, and so it was capable of anything.
“You little meddlesome bitch!” the siren roared.
I sensed a thud at my back and was pleased to see Brock, in his wolf form but with the seal skin still attached. He’d probably used his alpha power to come through the water wall, and now we were going to kill this bitch once and for all.
‘I’ll carve her up, you take off her head,’I told him through our pack link.
Brock gave a wolfish grin.
Cass was silent, watching from his post on the wall. It looked like his cuffs kept him from doing magic; otherwise he’d be helping.
Brock and I stalked toward the siren and a grin spread across her lips as she built a water ball in her hands.
“Don’t you know?” she cackled. “My sisters and I are some of the most powerful creatures in all the underworld. There’s nothing you and your mutt can do to weaken us.”
Pulling my magical shield over myself, because I knew she was about to throw that water ball at my face and try to drown me, I felt my projections pop out of existence. It was too hard to concentrate on them any longer anyway.
Holding my katana out before me, I stretched my purple magic along the blade. “Wanna bet?”
Taking in a deep breath, she blew on the ball in her hand. It flew across the room with lightning speed, covering Brock’s entire wolf muzzle in water.
Oh damn! The protection I’d placed over Brock earlier seemed to have fizzled out along with my projections.
