The Hour of Dust and Ashes

books.

The tallest one in the middle took a step forward, assessing the situation with a quick, perceptive eye. The guy was at least six and a half feet, long, lean, and agile-looking. He had a noble face, ruthless and hard as granite. Light hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, accentuating his widow’s peak and giving him a sharp visage. He wore black leather pants and boots and a leather belt over the silver chain mail, arm guards, and thigh guards.

The familiar, light pink irises typical of the sidhé fae fixed on me. “You are the one they call Charlie Madigan, aye?”

Half of the Pig-Pens turned in surprise at his voice. The air went thick with hostility and an underlying confusion. This new development threw everyone off balance, including me.

I glanced around, wishing there was another Charlie Madigan in the club, and wondering what the hell I’d done this time. I returned my attention to the sidhé. “That depends on why you’re asking, and if you’re here for the same reasons as these guys.” I gestured to the Pig-Pens.

A haughty eyebrow lifted as if to say breathing the same air as them was appalling.

“Stay out of this,” one of the Pig-Pens growled at the fae. “She’s ours.”

As they exchanged heated words, I glanced over at Tuni even as goose bumps spread over my arms. “I’m apologizing in advance. Make sure you tell Alessandra I was only defending myself.” He crossed his thick arms over his chest and grunted. “So … you just gonna watch or help me clear the dance floor?”

The jinn were a warrior culture. I wasn’t surprised to see the corner of Tuni’s mouth twitch into a grin. His big fists clenched, his rings flashing in the light. He nodded. “Just this once. Since they are disturbing the peace.”

A welcome spike of adrenaline surged through me.

Rex let out a huff and his arms dropped limply to his sides as he glared at Tuni and me. “You guys are like two little old ladies over there talking. Shut up already and let’s kick some oinker ass.”

“Rex,” I warned, as the argument between the Pig-Pen and the fae continued, “stay behind me. I don’t want anything happening to Will.”

An incredulous snort came out of his mouth, just as one of the Pig-Pens shoved a fae.

And that was it.

I ignored the thrumming vibration of power stirring inside of me and whipped my Nitro-gun from the holster under my arm, flicked the setting to stun, and fired as Rex engaged with his chair legs.

“Damn it, Rex!” I yelled at him.

He didn’t have to fight, siem'>

odds were in our favor to begin with. Sure, there were eight of them, but the sidhé fae were preternaturally efficient and could dispatch ten times their number with ease.

“Charlie, duck!” Rex shouted. I dropped to the floor and rolled, barely evading the bolt of power that surged over my shoulder. “Damn it, Rex! What the hell are you doing?!” I pushed to my feet, angry that he put Will’s body in danger, no matter how good he was.

“Again, with the saving your ass!” he shouted back.

One more attacked him, and the black mage went down swiftly. “Come on! Who’s next?! Here piggy, piggy, piggy! Soooo-eeeeey!” Rex’s voice rang with laughter as he faced another.

I never knew a human body could move that fast and beautifully. Rex had tapped into his former self—the jinn warrior he used to be before his spirit had been forced from his body during the Great War in Charbydon. He’d said he was the best … and watching him now, I believed him.

A boot connected with my kidney.

I flew forward, gun tumbling from my hand as hot pain burst through my torso. I fell to my knees, gasping. Fuck. I’d allowed Rex to distract me. Stupid mistake.

I rolled onto my back as the electric hum of power began to flow through my limbs.

The Pig-Pen attacker stood over me with a leer, his hands cupping a bright red ball of energy.

My chest swelled and my arms and hands went numb—a searing, painful numb like the pricking of a thousand red-hot needles. A scream built in my throat and all I knew was that I had to get rid of it. I sat up, overwhelmed and blinded, and threw out my hands, releasing my chaotic energy.

It all happened so fast. Once second I was flat on my back and the next, a bolt of blue energy slammed the Pig-Pen square in the chest, sending him flying across the room and through the drywall.

Jesus. I sat there panting as the faint hum of power receded. The room had gone quiet.

The sidhé fae calmly sheathed their weapons. They hadn’t even broken a sweat. I put my palms on the dance floor, about to push to my feet and approach the leader of the fae, when a deafening report tore through the club.

I bent over, hands pressed over my ears. An enormous vibration rang through the club, as though some kind of sonic boom ripped the air apart. The shock wave shook the ground and my surroundings, every bit of glass in the club shattering.

What the hell?

As the roar diminished, I let my hands fall from my ringing ears. Glass pinged the floor, the lighter bits rebounding and hovering in the air for a split second before being whisked sideways as if caught in a freak current. Another shock wave?

Other things were picked up in the strange current—paper, napkins, credit card slips …

Warnings darted under my skin like tiny fireballs. I crawled a few feet to retrieve my gun and shoved it back into the holster under my arm.

“Rex!”

More debris began to tornadoback und the club.

“Charlie!”

There. He was hunkered down behind an overturned table. “Run!” I shouted. “Get out of here, now!”

Rex stood to yell back at me, but a flying bar stool hit him in the back of the head. He landed motionless at the feet of the sidhé fae leader. The fae’s gaze went from Rex to me, and in that grim, knowing expression, I understood. He knew exactly what was happening.

The fae shouted a stern order to the others in his old language.

And then it dawned on me—nothing close to me was moving. While debris spun around the perimeter of the club, I sat in the center of an eerie quiet.

The eye of the storm.

Fear threaded into my psyche. I swallowed hard, slowly standing, wary of the circle of spinning debris. Stay calm. Balance. Be ready. I bent my knees, centered my weight, and crossed my right hand over my chest, poised to grab the gun under my left arm.

Something darkened in the spinning debris, catching my eye. A shadow. Then it simply glided out of the chaos.

A tall mass of gray. A suggestion of a tall, cloaked being. Yet it swirled and moved, becoming so thin at points that I could see straight through it.

It was in front of me in less than a second.

I stayed rooted to the spot. A shot, a kick, a punch, would go right through this creature. Still my fingers flexed over the grip of my weapon. A comforting gesture, because the more I looked into this … thing, the more darkness I saw—a terrifying, empty void.

It leaned closer. My pulse thrummed like a freight train.

A deep voice spoke, and there was so much power in it that I swayed on my feet. Primal. Ancient. Frightening as hell.

And then it enveloped me.

One gasp was all I had before it flew at me, passing completely through my body and coming out the other side.

Invaded. Turned inside out. Violated.

I dropped like a stone.

I awoke to Rex’s tiny, repetitive taps on my cheek. For a moment, all I could do was stare in shock as my brain scrambled to make sense of my last coherent memory—the terrifying shadow passing through my body. All five senses came flooding back with the memory, leaving me feeling exposed, raw. Weak.