Magic of Flesh and Bone, page 16
“And kick your skinny ass,” I added.
The demoness raised a perfectly manicured brow. “But now that I know what you are… where your magic is from… it is quite simple to make some changes to my magic.” She lifted her hand. Tendrils of black magic that looked like tar coiled around her wrist.
“Let them go, Rita,” I pleaded. “It’s me you want. Besides, they’re not my friends. They hate me. So you’d be wasting all of your energy for nothing.”
Rita’s laughter filled the room. The sound made bile rise in my throat. She produced another cigarette and put it to her lips. She blinked, and it was lit. Then she took a leisurely drag, exhaling a cloud of white smoke. “Tick-tock, Kit-Kat. I’m in the mood for a little bloodshed and screams. Nothing is more invigorating than the cries of children. Especially when you shut them up mid-scream.”
A strangled cry escaped Annette. “Please! Please, don’t hurt my babies. I beg you. They’re just little girls.”
Rita rolled her eyes as she walked over to the forms of Annette’s children lying on the floor. “I hate little girls. They’re manipulative little freaks. They should never exist.”
“Let them go, Rita! This isn’t a game,” I demanded, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and fear. My eyes darted between the motionless bodies of the girls and Rita’s chilling demeanor.
The demoness laughed, a cold, heartless sound that sent shivers down my spine. “Oh, but it is a game, Kit-Kat. And I think I’ll start with this one.” She kicked little Elsie, and her limp body rolled to the side.
And then I lost it.
I bucked like a bull at a rodeo, seething, even spitting. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!” Over my shouting I heard Annette’s cry and even Liam’s plea to take him instead of his girls.
Straining, I writhed against the demonic bonds that held me in place. I prayed to the gods and all the goddesses I could think of to please help me, to give me just a bit of my magic to help my friends—but nothing happened.
My magic never reached me, and all I got was a lot of sweat dripping down my temples and my back.
Rita kept laughing like this was the best entertainment she’d had all year.
She turned to me, and her smile widened at what she saw on my face. “Say your goodbyes, Kit-Kat,” she taunted, her voice dripping with malice. “Because once I’m done with them, they’ll be nothing but a memory.”
This was it. Rita was going to kill this beautiful, innocent family because of me. Because I fell in love with Dash.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
Just when Rita took another long drag of her cigarette, still watching me with that malevolent smile, things got a little weird.
A growl sounded, and then the brightest light shone behind Rita like a star had been born.
But it wasn’t a star.
Little Elsie was on her feet. I blinked through the bright light. Her snarling expression revealed her long, pointed teeth and wolf-like ears on top of her head. She even had some red fur covering her arms. But that was all. It was like she was in the process of transforming but hadn’t fully completed it yet. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to be a wolf at all. Perhaps this hybrid form was her true identity.
What happened next only added to her mystery.
Elsie pushed out with her tiny, four-year-old hands, and a bright orange light shot from them.
Magic. Elsie also had magic.
It hit Rita in the back.
The demoness went flying over me, hit the flat screen TV, and slipped to the floor.
She wasn’t dead or even unconscious, but the hold of her special magic she was using on me—whatever the hell that was—faltered.
Seeing my only chance, I rolled to the side and kicked the side table with the lamp. The lamp fell with a crash, the bulb smashing on impact. It didn’t leave the entire room in darkness, but it created enough shadows for what I was about to do.
Pulling on my umbra magic, I called it forth. A sudden surge of energy coursed through me as I yanked on the shadows around the room. I focused on the demonic bonds around my wrists. My shadows coiled around the black tar-like magic, penetrating it like a virus. Corrupting it.
And then I felt a release and pulled. The bonds broke and disintegrated.
I was up on my feet in a flash, drawing every single shadow in the entire house.
Surprise flickered in Rita’s eyes as I came for her.
And then I slammed her with a blast of darkness and shadows.
The demoness was yanked off her feet again and hurled across the room. With a deafening thud, she hit the wall.
And this time, she slumped to the floor in a pile of unconscious demon bitch.
“Bad,” said Elsie, pointing a finger at Rita. “You bad girl.”
I looked down at the little witch-werewolf, amazed at her uniqueness and power. “Yes.” I smiled and glanced back down at Rita’s limp form. “Very bad girl.”
20
It took about a half hour for the Gray Council folks to show up at Annette’s. Every cell in my body wanted me to kill Rita. To send her back to hell after what she’d done. She’d tried to kill my most beloved Aunt Luna. She’d taken Dash away from me. And now she had tried to kill Annette and her entire family.
And yours truly, of course.
But even after everything she’d done, I didn’t think it was up to me to do it. Besides, I had thought of a better way to get my revenge and to shut her up indefinitely.
That’s when I’d dialed Luther’s number.
“I have a gift for you,” I’d told him, and the Gray Council’s director of security showed up with three black unmarked vans and a team of six male paranormals, all dressed in dark clothes. Their energy all pointed to witches or mages, like Luther.
Rita had woken up a few minutes after I’d hit her with my umbra magic, only to find herself secured with my shadow ropes around her chest, wrists, and ankles with a shadow blade pointed to her face.
“Try anything, and I’m gonna brain you.” I wasn’t going to take any chances.
But I didn’t have to wait long. Once Luther had arrived, he and his crew had safely secured Rita with their own magical cuffs and, to my delight, a rusane locked around her neck. Only then did I release my umbra magic hold on her.
I’d pointed to her neck. “Looks good on you, just the thing that was missing.” I beamed. She glowered. It was awesome.
“What’s going to happen to her?”
I turned my head to find Annette standing next to me, seeing her eyes glinting with anger. “They’ll question her. She’s a member of The Forsaken. Has been for a very long time. Her insight is invaluable.”
“Will they hurt her?”
I looked back to Rita now being roughly pulled to her feet. “Yes.”
“Good. I hope they kill that bitch.”
I glanced at Annette, seeing fresh, angry tears escape her eyes and travel down her cheeks to her chin. “Maybe they will.” I completely understood her reasoning. I doubted the Gray Council would lock Rita away in Grimway Citadel, the paranormal prison. She wasn’t the usual inmate. She was a demon. My gut said they had a special place to put those they didn’t speak of. Or they’d just kill her when they were done. “But they’ll try to get as much intel as they can. It might take a while.”
Annette folded her shaking hands around her middle. “I just want her dead. I don’t care how they do it. I just want her gone.”
I sighed. “I want her gone too.” Yup. But for very different reasons. One look at Rita, seeing the defiance on her face, the rage ignited in her eyes, I knew the first chance she got, she’d come for me again. She wouldn’t stop until she was satisfied that I’d suffered enough at her hands. She blamed me for Dash not loving her anymore. But the truth was, she’d done that herself.
The sound of voices pulled my attention behind Annette to the kitchen where Liam and his five girls were baking chocolate chip cookies. My eyes went to Elsie. She wasn’t covered in that red fur anymore, and I couldn’t see any wolf ears either. She was back to her normal self, whatever that was.
“Elsie?” I turned back to Annette. “What is she? She’s not wolf. She’s not witch. She’s both. Isn’t she?” I remembered Annette telling me that her girls would show their paranormal selves as they got older. All her girls had come into their own, except for Elsie. They didn’t know if she’d be a werewolf like her dad or witch like her mom. Elsie seemed to be both.
Annette beamed when she looked back at her daughter. “She’s my Elsie,” she said, clearly a proud mama. The tiny little girl had attacked Rita to save her family. Loved that kid.
“I’ve never heard of a half-witch, half-werewolf? Offspring always, or usually, take after one parent. Like the rest of your girls. But Elsie…”
“Is my baby,” she said, and I felt a warning in her tone as her eyes went to Luther. Annette already had one young daughter with incredible magical potential, who’d unfortunately and inadvertently killed a few people. Annette was hiding her from the very council that was in her living room. I knew the last thing she wanted was to bring attention to her other daughter. Because it seemed as though Elsie was an anomaly.
Like me.
“She is,” I answered. “And a really cute one. Especially with those ears.” Elsie, the werewolf-witch, had managed to break free from Rita’s spell. Because she was equal parts witch and werewolf, the spell didn’t hold.
And she’d saved our asses.
“She said you took Dash’s place?” Annette searched my face. “That’s why you joined them?”
I knew who the them was. “Yes. It’s the only reason. They were hurting him. And I just jumped in without thinking it through.” I sighed. “Annette. I would have never joined that nasty group without a good reason. I hope you can understand that.”
Annette just nodded without saying anything.
“Plus,” I said, turning to Luther who was now talking low to Rita so we couldn’t hear, though her angry expression said it all. “I’m kind of working undercover for Luther.”
“Really?” Curiosity was high in Annette’s tone and I knew by the way she was looking at me, she was expecting an answer.
I nodded. “Together, we’re going to take down The Forsaken. We’re going to destroy them.”
Annette wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I overreacted. I should have listened to you. I just… when I heard you and your aunt… I just couldn’t believe you’d be part of that group after what happened to Emma.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” I told her. “From where you’re standing, I completely understand why you did what you did.” I wasn’t sure if that meant we were friends again or what. But it was a start. At least she wasn’t looking at me with venom in her eyes anymore. Maybe they wouldn’t move away.
“Thank you for the gift,” said Luther, and I turned my attention to him as he joined us. “But it’s not what we agreed on.”
“Can you make her talk?” I asked, my eyes on Rita. The demoness was staring at me like she wanted to bite my head off.
“I have my ways,” answered Luther. “It’s a start. But it won’t be enough to condemn the group. I’ll need more.”
I swallowed. “And you’ll get it. Soon.”
“You are fools if you think I’ll tell you anything,” growled Rita, her dark eyes gleaming with defiance. “You’ll never break me. I’m a demon, and you’re… what? A tiny man playing with magic?” She laughed cruelly. “I’ll give you nothing.”
“Oh, you will.” Luther watched Rita like she was a wild horse he was about to break. “You’re not the first demon I’ve interrogated. You’ll talk. They always do.” Luther spoke with such confidence that I believed him. Looked like he’d dealt with many demons in his line of work.
Rita laughed again, though I could see some of that defiance slipping. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill all of you!”
I snorted. “Good one.” I took a step forward. “Do they know about my rusane? Did you tell Algar?” I had a feeling that The Forsaken leader already knew my magical choker was dysfunctional. Either he could sense it, or Rita had told him. Still, I wanted to know.
A cold smile spread over Rita’s face. She looked at Luther. “Can I have a cigarette?”
Luther kept silent.
Rita lifted her hands, her wrists bound with cuffs that emanated magic. “I’m not going anywhere. Am I? Left pocket inside my jacket.”
Luther addressed one of the mages standing by her side, a tall blond male with glowing purple eyes. “Give her a cigarette.”
Rita grinned as the purple-eyed mage slipped his hand inside her jacket. “You’ve got soft hands,” she purred.
The mage ignored her as he pulled out the cigarette case. He placed one between his lips, and with a simple flick of his fingers, the tip ignited.
I had to learn that trick. But then again, I didn’t need it anymore. I’d quit.
The purple-eyed mage then put the lit cigarette to Rita’s lips.
“Thank you,” said the demoness as she took a long drag. She stared at me. “Want a puff?”
“No,” I told her, getting impatient. “So? Did you tell him?”
Rita blew shoots of white smoke. Then she glanced at me and said, “He doesn’t love you, Kit-Kat. You might think he does, but he doesn’t.”
“I don’t care what you say.”
Rita chuckled and flicked some ashes to the floor, glancing at Annette with a mocking smile. “Yes, at first, he’s all into you,” she continued, looking back at me. “And he’s a wonderful, attentive lover. But he’ll get bored. And when he does, and trust me, he will, he’ll just disappear, and you won’t hear from him ever again.”
I couldn’t lie and say her words didn’t affect me. They did. But I was going with my gut. “You’re saying this out of experience. Right? Because that’s what happened to you?”
Rita’s eyes narrowed as she blew more smoke. “Perhaps.”
I shook my head. “But you don’t know me and Dash. You only know you and Dash.” And it was going to work. Because even after the death of his friend, the half-demon still wanted to be with me. And in my book, that was saying a lot.
The demoness made a sound of delight as she inhaled more cigarette smoke, her eyes on me the whole time. That smile said she was trying to tempt me. I wasn’t made of metal. Nicotine was a powerful thing. Yes, I’d quit smoking. But it would be an ongoing struggle for a long while.
“Shadows and darkness,” crooned Rita, still watching me. “Only one among the stars has that ability. And then there was you, Kit-Kat. I wonder why that is?”
“What did you say?” I took another step closer, the cigarette smoke coiling in my face. “What do you know about my powers?” I could feel everyone listening closely now. Luther. Annette. The Gray Council mages. A year ago, I would have told Rita to shut up, not wanting to bring any attention to myself or my very different magic. But I was tired of keeping it a secret. And I wanted answers.
It was obvious Rita knew something about my magic and where it came from. I had to know.
“You’re not who you think you are,” said the demoness, and her eyes gleamed with an unsettling knowledge. “You have the power of shadows, but it’s not a witch gift. It’s something much older and darker than that.”
I took a deep breath, trying to quell the unease creeping up my spine. “Stop messing with me. Tell me, Rita. What do you know about the source of my powers?” I knew it was a longshot. I doubted the demoness would tell me. She looked like she was enjoying torturing me a little. Her having this knowledge over my head was like the icing on her demonic cake. She was loving it.
Was she lying? Maybe. But my gut was saying no because of how she reacted when I busted her skinny ass back in New York. She’d seen my magic before. She knew what it was. I was certain of it.
The demoness smiled, finally exhaling a long stream of smoke. “I have no idea what Dash sees in you. Your mind is very… simple. The fact that you have no idea what you are at your age? Pathetic.”
“Shut up, you demon whore,” spat Annette, coming to my defense and surprising me.
Rita feigned being shocked. “Such big words for a little witch.” Her eyes grew cold. “I would have loved to suffocate the life out of all your children, and I would have relished your screams as I killed them—ugh!”
My fist shot forward, connecting with Rita’s jaw. My hand throbbed. Hitting someone across the face hurts more than you think. Her cigarette went flying out of her mouth.
“Good thing we’ll never have to see that,” I said, not moving away from her.
Rita laughed. When she straightened, black blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. “Such a temper, Kit-Kat. But it won’t save you.”
I frowned. “Save me from what?” I wiggled the stiffness from my fingers. “What do you mean?”
Luther shook his head, a grim smile pulling at his lips. “Don’t let her deceive you,” he warned. “She’s toying with your emotions, feeding off your reactions. It’s the nature of their kind. Demons are nothing but skilled tricksters and manipulators. They love to play games with you. Never trust a demon.”
I begged to differ. Dash was nothing like that. I was a strong believer that your race, species, whatever, didn’t determine your nature. Your actions did. Whether you were a witch, a shifter, or a demon didn’t matter.
The demoness smiled. Blood stained her teeth. “I will get my revenge, Kit-Kat. I will get the last laugh.”
“I’ve heard enough,” said Luther. “Get her out of here.”
Rita kept laughing as two of his mages hauled her out of Annette’s front door and then shoved her into an unmarked black van.
The engine revved before disappearing down the street, leaving me with nothing but my own thoughts. I stared at the spot where Rita had been moments before, a bitter taste filling my mouth. Luther was right about one thing. Rita did love to play games. I’d learned that firsthand with what she’d done to my aunt Luna.
