Trump could afford the bill I was racking up. He shook his head, an amused smile on his lips.

“The last time, I wasn’t expecting you to show up. I was just there to pick up the chains the boys left behind. And besides, I was burnt out from helping the boss light up that angel he’s got all trussed up. This time, I’ve got all my horses saddled up and raring to go.” A tiny spout of fire sprung up from his palm and danced across his fingers as nimbly as a ballerina. He winked at me, the firelight glistening in his blue eyes. I’d realized during our first run-in McConnell wasn’t operating on a full tank, but I’d noticed too late to take advantage of it. I was regretting that failure now. If what he said was true, and he was fully charged, I didn’t stand a chance.

“We can’t discuss this?” I changed gears.

“Tain’t nothin’ to discuss. I got a job to do and I figure I better get on with it. It was nice meeting you, hear?”

I didn’t waste a second. If that cowpoke wanted to put me down, he was gonna have to work for it. I dove forward, closing the distance between us, lashing out with a right. My heart jumped as I felt the satisfying thud of my fist collide with his mouth. He grunted and rolled away, redirecting most of the impact and stumbling back to give himself room. He wasn’t getting off that easy. I stayed on him. I threw a low kick, which nearly buckled his leg, and followed it with a left hook. It caught him alongside the head, just above the ear, and I saw his eyes flutter. His legs gave way a second later and he dropped onto his butt. Thinking I had him and feeling rather optimistic, I moved to put a knee in his face.

His magic struck first.

With but a flick of his hand, he sent out a wave of concussive force. It slammed into me like a wrecking ball. I flew back before I’d even realized what’d happened. The pain hit me while I was still in the air. It felt like I’d been raped by a jackhammer, all romance aside.

Instinctively, I curled up just before I struck the ground, but it didn’t help much. I crashed hard and rolled, more accurately defined as flopping, and bounced along the asphalt. I was in a white haze of agony when I finally came to a stop. My eyes wouldn’t focus, my lungs burned with each shallow breath, and my body ached like it had been run through a hydraulic press. I lifted my head, fighting down nausea as I looked for McConnell. He was strolling forward, his eyes burning holes in me. My optimism crawled away to hide someplace I’d rather not talk about. I seriously thought about following it.

“I was gonna make it easy for you, boy, and kill you quickly.” He closed, cracking the knuckles of his fingers as his hands clenched into fists. “Not anymore. You want to slug it out? I’m more than willing to oblige you.” He gestured for me to get up.

I debated staying where I was. Without my guns, or my uncle’s blood, I wasn’t anywhere close to winning this confrontation. This was David versus Goliath, but only if David were a blind quadriplegic with asthma. I didn’t even think I had that much of a chance. Despite all that though, it just wasn’t in me to quit. I pulled myself to my feet with a groan, and met McConnell’s eyes.

His face softened a bit, the hint of a smile creeping onto his bloody lips. “Glad to see you’ve got a pair on you.” He settled into a defensive posture. It appeared he knew a thing or two about boxing. Just my luck, the old boy could fight.

“All balls, no brains, or so they tell me.”

He chuckled, apparently having realized that already, and moved forward.

The talking over, we began to circle one another. Not expecting him to fight fair, I thought it best to get off first to see what I could make happen. I darted in with a jab and a quick, straight right. The jab clipped him and he adjusted, sweeping my right to the side. He countered easily, his hand speed much faster than I would have believed him capable of, and punched me in the liver. A flash of gray sparked off when he hit and my side exploded with pain, tendrils of it snaking down my leg and across my crotch.

I stumbled, barely getting my arms up in time to block the follow up. His fist crashed into my forearms, once more throwing up a flash of gray light. It was like he’d hit me with a sledgehammer. The bones in my arm throbbed, my shoulders stiffening up as I backed away. He grinned, stalking me down. My prediction as to the fairness of the fight played out and I knew I wasn’t gonna be walking away in one piece. I cast a quick glance toward the house and hoped Veronica had run like I’d told her. It would tear me up to think what might happen to her once McConnell was finished with me. I shook my head to clear away the images that popped up. I didn’t want to picture the possibilities. Driven to a rage by my way too active imagination, I lashed out. I threw a feint with my left, following it up with a kick to his ribs. My shin struck home with a thump, knocking the wind from McConnell. He gasped hard, doubling over, but he managed to catch my leg. With it leveraged against his side, he twisted hard and I heard a snap, his magically-enhanced strength making it easy. I screeched as stabbing pains shot through my calf, the bones of my lower leg broken. McConnell lifted it up over his shoulder and dumped me on my back. I hit the asphalt with a thud, reaching down to cradle my right leg as he hovered over me.

“Any last words,” he huffed, his breath still a little short.

I moaned against the hard surface of the street, rolling my head to look up at him. “Yeah.” I did my best to smile through the pain. “You might want to watch your back.”

He burst out laughing. “You think I’m gonna fall for tha-” A flash of red behind him cut him off. He spun around, but was too late. Rahim let loose a burst of searing energy that smashed into him, blowing him a hundred feet into the air. I heard him land a few seconds later, crashing down through the roof of an aluminum storage shed in the yard next door.

“Are you all right?” Rahim asked with surprising gentleness in his voice. His upper lip peeled back into a disgusted sneer when he saw my leg, the bones protruding from the skin. He looked a little pale. I shook my head. There wasn’t time to do Page 206 anything else.

There was a squeal of aluminum being torn apart, then a flash of gray blasted through the neighbor’s rock wall and streaked over my head, tearing into Rahim. He cried out as the force of the blow drove him back. Knocked off his feet, he slid along the asphalt, shredding flesh in crimson layers as he went. He tumbled to a halt and got to his feet, wobbling as McConnell stepped over the wreckage of the wall and stormed toward him. Rahim seemed dazed.

I shouted a warning as The Gray walked past me, unable to do anything to stop him. Rahim looked up just as McConnell let fly another burst of energy. The old wizard threw up a shield and reflected the blast, grimacing as he did. I could see his arms shaking from where I lay. No doubt McConnell could as well. He pressed forward.

Tenacious, he fired blast after magical blast, alternating hands and angles in an attempt to take Rahim out. Rahim was just as intent upon not being struck. He conjured shield upon shield, turning away each of The Gray’s attacks, many at the very last second. Though he held his ground, I could see he was tiring. Sweat trickled down his face and he was breathing in deep, sucking gasps. It wouldn’t be long until he missed a block. Things would be over for us both when that happened.

With no magic of my own to aid in the fight,

I thought about what I could do to help. Injured as I was, it wasn’t much. I glanced back at the remains of my house and had an idea. Tearing the sleeve from my shirt, I wrapped it tight around my broken leg. I clenched my teeth to hold back my screams, doing what I could to work through the pain. The wound, like any caused by a supernatural being, wouldn’t heal on its own so I couldn’t expect it to get better. The best I could hope for was it didn’t get worse. I tightened the tourniquet to keep the bones from shifting too much, rolling over onto my stomach.

As the battle raged behind me, I dragged myself toward the house. Each agonizing inch was like dousing my leg in gasoline and setting a match to it. The punctures, where the bone had torn through the skin, burned with searing intensity as it scraped across the unforgiving asphalt. Dirt and grease were being ground in, guaranteeing infection, if I lived long enough to worry about it. The bones twisted and turned inside the leg, grinding against one another with every shift of position. Tears streamed from my eyes and I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from calling attention to myself. An agonizing eternity later, the sounds of the magical duel muffled by the wreckage, I crawled into the house. Fortunately, given my current condition, the majority of the front rooms no longer existed. There was nothing but smooth tiled floors and open space. Compared to the street and the sandpaper surface of the sidewalk I’d had to cross to get here, this was like Heaven. Too bad I’d have to crawl out once I found what I was looking for. I stowed the negativity and continued on, hauling myself to the bedroom. Once inside, I headed for the back wall. Thanks to the wind assault of McConnell’s, if I was going to find anything, it’d be there. Halfway across the room, where the debris began, I found it harder to navigate. Wooden splinters dug into my legs, their sharpened points piercing through my jeans and finding a home in the soft flesh. Glass shards snapped and cut deep

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