Golden's Rule (20 page)

“Hold on there, let me handle this.” He shot a bolt of energy at the monitor standing in the corner. The metal on it blackened, and a loud crack snapped through the room. Silence followed. A low-tuned hum he’d not really registered ended.

“Okay, okay, I’m cool. Get me out of here already!”

He ignored the witch and still holding on to Beauty’s jacket, he assessed the room for any sign of a threat.

The witchling raised her shackled arms as high as she could and shook them at him. “Hello? A little help with the arm and leg straps?”

“Torque!” Beauty tugged her jacket. “I have to help her.”

“Not too close,” he warned.

A sudden hum came from the wall. As he watched, the witch’s eyes grew round as she watched the wires. Suddenly she gritted her teeth and her body bowed up, the restraints digging into her thighs and ankles. Blue sparks started radiating out from where the electrodes attached to her pale skin. Struggling, she panted, bright eyes on them, face taut with pain.

“Shit, shit, shit. Not again!” 

Beauty tugged him, glaring, her green eyes fierce. “Let go! Torque, we have to help her. That’s what we came for, right? Turn those machines off, Torque. Now, turn them all off.”

He gave the machines along the wall a quick once-over and jerked the cord out of the wall. Human construction, the machines all shuddered one last time before they fell as silent as the one in the corner.

The witch fell back panting with a muttered curse.

“Ah, sweet Bridget, that fucking hurts.”

Bridget, one of the three Celtic Goddesses. So, the witch had to belong to any number of covens scattered all over Europe and North America. Her accent sounded American. Los Angles maybe. Great. This, he didn’t need. A youngling witch far from home and with that attitude was more than likely a rogue or independent witch. Sweating, bleeding, and pissed, the kid looked from him to Beauty, then back to him, her blue eyes narrowed.

“We’re here to break you free. Well, you and a few others.”

The witch’s eyes flickered over Beauty before she nodded. “Yeah, doubt anyone sent the posse after me.”

Beauty didn’t appear to know what to do with that. She frowned, concern evident in her troubled gaze. “Uh, well, let’s get these off. You seem fine, well, except for a small tear in your aura.”

Eyes widening, the kid grew paler. Magic was a part of her, he could sense something off as well, but not exactly what.

He jerked his head towards the cables and contraptions hooked up to her skin. “Tell us what this place is.”

Her blonde eyebrows drew down fiercely. “Uh, like I’d know? Did you miss the sparks? The leather straps tying me down?” The last came out in a shout and more sparks flew. The witch fell back and mouthed ‘shit’, repeatedly shaking her head from side to side.

Yeah, she made him feel real secure freeing her. She’d most likely fry them by mistake.

Beauty made a distressed sound, shrugged his hands off, and moved in close to the witch’s side and began tugging at the buckles on the leather straps. Damn. She was right. It wasn’t like they could leave the witch here. Stomping over, he worked on the leg restraints while his mind pounded with the urgency to get moving.

As soon as he had her legs free he folded his arms over his chest. “Now, tell us, what’s going on.”

“Yeah, did ya miss the sparks, dude? Or maybe the restraints?”

Beauty shot him a surprised look. Yeah, so, he liked more respect but he’d give the girl points for bravery.

“Slow down, mini. I just want to know who took you and what’s up since you got yourself restrained,” he said.

Instead of snipping at him, she adjusted her studded belt, brushed her hair off her eyes, and shot him a superior look.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly see much. I was at One Eye’s catching some down time. Went out, and…” Waving her hand around, she frowned and colour slowly flashed over her cheeks. “
Voila
, I’m here. Strapped down with those stupid painful things.” Ripping one of the electrodes off, she snarled and kicked the table. “Then, the fun and games began. Humans”—she spat the word and snarled again—“came in. Hooked up the little fun stickers and yeah, then the hurt began.”

“Humans. Not Death Stalkers?”

At the same time Beauty asked, “But Death Stalkers did this to you, right?”

The witch hissed out a breath painful breath, hunched over a bit, and shook her head. “I did smell their black magic once. But only once.”

Shit. Time was not on their side. He would figure this out later. Already he knew this was bigger than he could deal with alone. One Eye’s was in LA. That meant this little cell was much, much bigger than he’d thought. Hoped. Shit didn’t matter, they were in trouble here. “We have to go. There’s more still bound. Are you good to go?”

“I’m good to go, but give me a blade and I’ll kill the first Death Stalker that comes near. I might slice and dice a human or two, as well.”

She looked like she could, too. Pissed, not hurting as much, adrenaline, and fury pumped through her, lighting her eyes with a slightly darker blue cast.

He checked in with Beauty before handing the witch a knife big enough to cause some damage. Both women looked tense, but Beauty was holding up well.

Beauty reached out and laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I sent some healing, but there’s a tear…a tear in your magic. I don’t know if I can heal that here and now.”

He shook his head. “No, not now. After, we can see what we can do.”

“A tear. Freakin’ fantastic.” Hand on her hip she blew her bangs up and snorted. “Let’s just hoof it, then talk about tears in magic.”

Torque shook his head. “Save it, come on.”

They needed to move. Now. He stopped at the door and listened, but heard nothing, soundproof he guessed. Shit. Hand on the knob, he paused. Beauty’s green eyes met his. He hated this.

“Ready?”

“Yep.”

He nodded to the witch and said, “Get ready, Mini, the fight is on.”

The witch snorted again, but he knew she was up for a fight. Too bad he wasn’t on his game. As soon as he opened the door a blast of evil hit like a damn three-hundred-pound bowling ball.

Beauty’s scream, a shriek really, had him gasping for air.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck
. For some reason he couldn’t seem to clear the rage pouring in from all sides enough to sense her. Had she ever made that particular sound before?

He tried to keep it together, but he went down, falling so fast and hard he didn’t even register the hit he knew he took directly to the head.

Chapter Thirteen

A shot of pure power hit Beauty again, nearly knocking her flat. Shoved back, she blinked past the blurring sensation in her eyes and gritted her teeth.

“Shit!”

“Damn. That piece of shit DS is pissing me off.”

Beauty barely registered the other witch’s words enough to try and understand her. Torque was face down. His big body had taken the full force of the attack when he opened the door. He now lay blocking the only exit out of this hellhole.

She couldn’t shift them out. She’d tried. She couldn’t tug him out of the way and close the door. She’d tried. She had a barrier up, no one was getting in, but she couldn’t get close to him because when she did, she was in the direct line of fire. Whoever stood outside that doorway sent volley after volley of power at her barrier, nearly knocking her on her butt every time she tried to reach more than Torque’s leg.

“Shit!”

The witch snapped her fingers. “Calm down. Just calm down, and look at me. Not the big bastard, me.”

The witch! She jerked her head around to glare at the other witch.

Hands up to placate her, the punk rocker nodded as if she could understand. Torque was hurt, possibly dying, and this witch wanted to talk? She’d not bonded him. That was all that kept circling her mind. She’d never said the words. Hadn’t had time and now there might not be enough time.

“All right, just trying to bring some clarity. Got it. He’s yours. Okay, so we need a plan, right?”

She had no idea what the woman was saying.
Shit, shit, shit
.

“Focus. Was this a team, or are you solo?”

Team. Shit. Where was the team? “I don’t know, I mean, it was a team, but I…they split up. Bryson, that big lug is a vampire and I have no idea where everyone is!”

Clearly out of her mind, the witch seemed to think if she held her hands up higher Beauty would settle down. Nothing was going to settle her down. Torque was hurt and she couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t remember a single spell to help him. Couldn’t even feel her power. Or she felt it, but it taunted her after she’d formed the barrier.

“All right, all right. Calm down. So, look, I can do some damage, but you have to heal this tear. Can you heal? Is that your thing?”

Beauty nodded, eyeing Torque’s still body. She thought she could. The idea took root and seemed to fit her power.

“Okay, you heal the tear, and I’ll stir things up enough to get that DS bastard right where he needs it. Plan?”

Heal the witch, she’d help, and they’d hit it. DS? “What is a DS?”

“Death Stalker.”

It sounded good, but what if she drained her power on the witch and none was left for Torque?

“Okay?” The witch wiggled her fingers. “I’ll teach those jerks to use some stupid machine on me.”

Shit. Shit. Shit
. Taking a breath, Beauty moved just a bit away from the corner. When the blast had hit Torque, she’d flown back, bashing her head against the wall, but otherwise she was unharmed.

“All right. I’ll need to touch you, I think. Come over to me?”

From her corner, the witch nodded, puffing her blue bangs out of her eyes. “Count to three. I’ll dive over and you do your thing. But don’t lose whatever is keeping that guy out, ‘kay?”

Duh. She could do this. She could do this. “Right.”

“One.”

The storm outside the door grew louder. They exchanged worried glances before the other witch mouthed, “Two.”

“Fuck three and just get over—” The witch dived low and hit her corner with a soft umph, at impact.

Beauty reached down, grabbed a thin shoulder, and concentrated on the tear. The damage glowed silver through the witch’s natural pale lilac aura. Settling in, Beauty tugged the silver, moving it to match up with the other side, trying to align the two sides. Beneath her hand, the witch gasped and her body trembled. It hurt. Beauty knew it, felt it, but they didn’t have time.

“Ah, fuck,” Torque muttered.

She lost her concentration on the healing when she heard Torque’s low curse. Tightening her grip on the girl’s shoulder, she pressed and sealed the two sides with a suddenness that drew another gasp from the witch.

Beauty met the witch’s gaze and sucked in a breath. The other woman’s irises glowed purple, growing brighter while a tattoo lining the inside of her wrist to her elbow moved, circling until it formed a symmetrical design similar to a dragon eating its tail. With a grunt, she fell back, gripping her head in both hands.

“Gah, that
hurt
!”

Not bothering to reply, Beauty swung her head around to find Torque. He was still down, but as she watched he reached up and touched his forehead, then jerked and his head snapped up. His eyes pinned on her in seconds.

Relief flooded her. Tears blurred her vision but she saw Torque’s expression ease when he saw her.

“Torque.”

“Beauty, that hurt like a bitch.”

She choked on a laugh and glanced over to see the other witch stand. As Beauty watched, she shoved her arms up and forward and purple sparks flew from her fingertips. The lights flickered again. The power seemed to hum from her. With an evil grin she chanted something low, too low to hear but the tempo grew faster and faster until, throwing her head back, the witch yelled the last. Purple fire raced from her hands to arch over Torque and crashed into the wall outside their room.

Someone screamed.

Torque cursed. Rolling out of the way with another curse, he glared at them as he stumbled to his feet with the help of the wall to the left of the door.

The witch grinned. “Damn, that felt good.”

Beauty couldn’t help the laugh that broke free. The witch just sounded so pleased. She flipped her bangs off her eyes and winked. “He won’t be getting up anytime soon.”

She threw another, smaller blast making it look like she’d rolled a bowling ball, but the scream followed proved her magic was some kind of freaky good shit. Immediately they heard running footsteps, then a shout.

“Cut the fire power, Mini.” Torque sucked in a breath and nodded to the door.

All three of them heard the loud male curses, then Bryson’s call, “ Cut the fire, will ya?”

Bryson. Oh, Danu, thank you.
“Torque, don’t move.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t think I can.”

Slumped over, he let out a low painful breath. He looked like hell. She reached him and hugged him around his waist, only slightly supporting him. He bent and rested his head against hers for a moment that threatened to break her heart. Could he be more impossibly wonderful? And hurt. “Are you hurt? Is there blood?”

“No, I’m fine. Fine, really.”

The witch cut her purple electrical fire, and Bryson stormed in. Behind him, she spotted a few other team members, men, and women she’d barely met. They all had weapons out, some bloody, some stained an odd bluish grey. Between a few, she spotted unconscious bodies, heads hanging down.

Bryson nodded. “Yo, Beauty, we brought your man a few toys.”

She couldn’t help it. She laughed. She laughed so hard it hurt. Hugging Torque’s grumbling head, she practically fell over.

Bryson frowned, saying, “What? What’d I say?”

Beauty sucked in a breath when Torque tightened his hold on her arm, leaning into her so heavily she almost dropped his butt.

“Damn, woman. Get me home, I hurt.”

“Yeah, get him outta here, would you? And by the way, I’m Hunter, and just so you know, I’m in on this little battle now, so get some rest, heal that man of yours and I’ll catch you soon.”

Beauty blinked at Hunter and watched her waltz out past Bryson.