Justice Calling (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress Book 1) (10 page)

That, I could do.

I let go of my talisman and slammed both fists into the ground, channeling the raging tide of my magic into the surface of the earth. I visualized it charging just under the roots of the grass like a tunneling
Arrakis
sandworm. The grass rippled and the earth buckled in a straight line from my hands to the circle trapping Alek.

When the ripple hit the circle, I yanked my fists up and threw them wide in a breaking motion.

The circle flew apart, dark shards of power shooting into the air and chalk exploding in a white cloud. Tiger-Alek sprang free and took two great leaping bounds before he crashed through the circle surrounding Bernie.

“Don’t kill him!” I yelled. My magical tide was receding. I was definitely hitting a limit. I pushed myself to my feet.

Tiger-Alek slammed into Bernie, knocking him to the side. Then he was just Alek again. He grabbed the chubby warlock by his robe and twisted his wrist in a crazy Bruce Lee kind of move until Bernie screamed and dropped the knife. Even stumbling forward and still fifteen feet away, I heard Bernie’s arm break.

“Is the spell broken?” Alek called to me.

I looked around. No more shadows flew around the broken circle, and though I could still sense Bernie’s weird, nauseating magic, it wasn’t strong anymore.

“I think so,” I said. “Harper? Levi?”

“Alive, I can hear them breathing.”

Super senses must be nice. I sagged with relief.

“Good. So, Bernie Barnes, we meet again.” I looked down at the whimpering man. He looked so pathetic that I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“You don’t understand,” he whined. “You don’t know what you’ve done. I was so close.”

“I. Don’t. Fucking. Care.” I said. “Save the Bond villain explanation for whatever god greets you in hell. Unless, of course, you want to live.”

There was zero way he was going to live. Shifter justice isn’t very nice. But he didn’t need to know that yet.

“Yes,” he said, his bug-like blue eyes filled with desperation.

“All you have to do is undo your spells, the ones that suck power from my friends. Very simple.” I smiled at him.

From his reaction, it wasn’t a very pleasant smile.

“I, uh,” he stuttered and then looked up at Alek and then back at me. “I can’t.”

“You worked the spell. How?”

“I found an old book. Bought it on Ebay. Most of it was gibberish, but then some of the spells worked. But I couldn’t get enough power, not from people. They kept dying, you see. Then I discovered one of them.” He looked back up at Alek. “Werepeople. The book described using magical creatures as vessels.”

“Where is this book?” And what fucking idiot warlock had written down such dangerous spells? Rage trickled back through me, giving me a second wind, and I glared down at the shaking man.

“I burnt it. I didn’t my disciples to steal it. Jimmy and Collin were always lifting things, trying to find ways to gain power like I did. Then they sold that damn fox for weed money. This is their fault!”

“Oh yeah, your problem was that you hired bad help. Sure.” I looked at Alek. His eyes were flame and ice in the flickering torchlight.

“He’s telling the truth,” Alek said softly.

“So you can’t undo your spells? You really don’t know how?”

“No, I’m telling you. The book didn’t tell me that. Why would I want to? Before now, I mean. Those two,” he said, motioning toward Harper and Levi, “they aren’t tapped. They are just unconscious. They’ll wake up. See? It’s only that one.”

“Not just him,” I said. “What about the fox? What about those wolves under your office?”

“I can’t do anything about it now. Don’t let that thing kill me. I won’t do it again. I’m sorry.” Bernie said, his voice rising into a high screech.

I sank to my knees and reached out for Ezee’s body beside me, sliding my hand into his soft brown fur. Shadow bonds wrapped around him in the same twisting pattern they did on Rose. I found his heartbeat, faint but there.

“This is the crossroads,” I whispered, looking up at Alek. “This is what you saw.”

He just stared down at me, not moving, his face giving nothing away. I knew somehow that he would let me decide. That if I said the word, he’d become the Justice once more and execute the sentence of death on Bernie Barnes.

That was one path, one road leading away from the junction I now metaphorically stood at. Down that path, Bernie died. Rose and Ezee also died. Slowly and horribly, or else they would have to be put down by friends. By me or maybe Alek. I wasn’t going to ask Harper or Levi to do it.

On that path, they died.

There was another path.

“No, Bernie,” I said, the words falling like stones from my mouth. “You won’t do it again.” I summoned my magic, fighting the pounding exhaustion that threatened to stem the flow.

Then I plunged my hand, cloaked in raw power, into Bernie’s chest and ripped out his heart.

I didn’t let myself think about what I was doing. I just acted, shoving the bleeding hunk of muscle into my mouth and biting down hard. I didn’t know if I had to eat the whole thing or not. I hoped not. It was hot and tough, like trying to chew a raw steak. I ripped off the biggest piece I could and swallowed it without chewing more than once, half choking, and I fought to not immediately vomit it back up.

Shadowy power exploded in my chest as I swallowed and a flood of images and impressions overloaded my mind. Ugly, jock-type boys gathered around me, taunting me for my glasses, my weird name. Learning Sanskrit. Stabbing a shadowy knife into a screaming man’s chest. Cinnamon rolls. Shadow power welling inside me as young men sat at my feet, eager to learn. I think I passed out as Bernie’s life and mine collided.

Then the sensory overload stopped and just like that I was awake. My head was clear and this strange new knowledge was there, as though I’d downloaded a new file to the desktop of my brain.

I reached for Ezee, the shadow bonds inside him clear as lines on a map to me now. I knew what they were for, how they leeched his life force and transmuted it into an energy I now knew how to use.

I was relieved that the very idea of this still nauseated the fuck out of me.

I unraveled the bonds. I didn’t need a book to understand how this magic worked. Now that I could touch it, control it, my sorceress abilities took over and bent it to my will. I snapped the bonds, unwinding the knot around his heart.

He came alive with a yelp and sprang up. Then he shifted, turning instantly from coyote back to a man.

“Jade,” he said and then looked past me and ran for his twin’s inert form.

I didn’t take it personally. He could thank me later. All I wanted to do now was pass out and sleep for maybe a couple million years. The rush of new power was fading, leaving me hollow. The pain in my chest came back with an insistent throb and spots danced in my vision again. Not enough spots, though, to keep me from turning and seeing Bernie’s dead body lying in a black heap on the bloody grass. I felt nothing but a faint sadness for the man he could have been if he’d chosen another path.

I decided I could process later. It was definitely past time to be unconscious. On cue, Alek lifted me into his impossibly strong arms.

“Max,” I said. “He’s out there, at the highway. Someone should call him.”

“Shh,” he murmured. “I’ll handle it from here.”

He was warm, so warm. My skin felt rimed with ice in comparison. I nuzzled my head into his shoulder, pressing my bruised nose to his chest.

“You smell good,” I said.

And then, because the universe can sometimes be a merciful bitch, I passed the fuck out.

It took me three days before I could do more than stumble to the bathroom and sip orange juice. I managed to pull up enough power at some point after I woke up the first day to free Rose from Bernie’s spell. Doing so knocked me out again right afterwards.

I don’t know what Alek said to the evil minion who’d shot me. I decided I wouldn’t ask. He’d shot me, after all. I also had no idea what happened to Bernie’s body, but I was willing to bet it would never be found. The boy in the coma woke up after I killed Bernie and fled town. Without the book and without Bernie to teach them, I figured he was probably harmless now.

Unfortunately, the spell that had bound Rose and Ezee didn’t put them to sleep. They’d both been awake and aware the entire time. Rose told us how she’d been approached by two young men who had said they were lost while hiking and how they’d lured her into one of Bernie’s magical traps. The boy in the coma had stolen her from Bernie and sold her to Ciaran after he and Bernie argued about how they weren’t learning useful magic yet.

While I was sleeping off my magical hangover and healing from a shot in the chest, Ezee had told Levi, Max, Rose, and Harper a pretty sensational accounting of my daring rescue. Harper and Levi were convinced I had a dire wolf familiar who could turn invisible at will now. I didn’t correct them.

He left out the part where I nom’d down on a man’s heart. I was grateful for that. I still didn’t know how I felt about it.

When I mercy-killed the wolf in Bernie’s lair, I had felt so much pain and regret and revulsion for what I had to do. My heart had felt like it was going to crawl out of my chest, and I wanted to scrub my hands clean of blood like Lady Macbeth every time I thought about him. It had been merciful. The right thing to do. I still felt awful and sick about it. Bernie’s memories hadn’t even provided names for his victims. He hadn’t cared enough to learn them.

But when I thought about Bernie, about thrusting my power into his chest and the hot, chewy taste of his heart between my teeth, I felt nothing. Empty. And I knew I would make the same choice again if I had to. I could run the scene through my mind a hundred times and I knew I would always choose his death and my friend’s lives. Always.

After three days, I made Max drive me home in my car. Levi followed us and took him back to the B&B. I wanted to be alone. To process. The twins and Harper told me they understood, but I could see a million questions in their eyes. Questions I’d have to find answers for eventually if I was going to stick around.

My duffle bag was still sitting on the floor of my shop. Waiting for me to run. I picked it up and took it into my apartment. I dropped it on the coffee table and slumped onto my couch.

Stay? Or go?

Things weren’t different. Samir was still going to come for me. I wasn’t ready. I was more powerful than I had been a week ago, thanks to Bernie’s donation, but I was magically flabby. I couldn’t even put a fight half as good as the one I’d given him twenty years before. Not yet.

Someone tapped lightly on my door. I hadn’t heard footsteps, so I knew instantly who it was. One giant blond pain in the ass coming right up.

“It’s open,” I called out. I actually wanted to talk to Alek. He’d been in and out of the B&B over the weekend, but we’d never had a chance to be alone.

He closed the door behind him and smiled at me before detouring into my kitchen and setting down a bag on the counter. Garlic and soy sauce wafted over to me. It smelled like heaven.

“Is that Chinese I smell?” I asked, even though the bag that read
Lee’s Magic Kitchen
on the front was kind of a dead giveaway. “You are a god among men.”

“That’s a much nicer greeting than you gave me the first time we met,” he said. He came over and sat down on the couch beside me, close enough that his thigh touched mine. I didn’t move away.

“Yeah, well, you weren’t exactly nice either. I believe you called me a murderer.” I frowned as I said it. I hadn’t been one that day. I was definitely one now.

He studied me for a moment and then looked at my duffle bag. “Are you still leaving?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m tired of running. And as much as it really, really kills me to admit you were right… well… you were right.”

“What’s that? I’m sorry, I think I dozed off for a moment.” He was smirking again.

“My ex is still going to come for me,” I said, ignoring his teasing. “I’m not ready.”

He shrugged. “So get ready.”

“It’s not that simple. I’ll have to start using my magic. A lot. Training. I don’t even know where to begin. I should probably learn to use a gun, or how to fight, or maybe Kung-Fu. I’m not cut out for this, and I probably don’t have enough time before he shows up. He could be here tomorrow. Or in a year. I don’t know. It’s not simple,” I repeated.

“Yes,” he said, flipping to serious mode. “It is. I have been assigned to this region. The Nine want a Justice around here for a while. I can help you, if you’ll let me.”

“Even knowing what I am? Seeing what I did?” I bit my lower lip and held my breath. This was the conversation I wanted to have, but I dreaded it anyway.

“Two weeks ago, I was sent a dream by the Nine. In that dream I saw a beautiful woman with hair like smoke and eyes full of fire. A giant crow soared above her and on one side of her was a pile of corpses shrouded in shadows as far as my eye could see. On the other side there was a sea of woodland creatures who laughed and danced in a sunny meadow.”

“I think the humans have psychotherapy that can help with that,” I said, trying to diffuse the awkwardness I felt at his intense recounting.