The glow in the cultist demon mage’s eyes flashed brighter, and the man gritted his teeth.
The swordsman surged toward Ezra.
Ezra spun with unbelievable speed and unleashed his spell—spears of crimson light. But the swordsman had already changed direction and dove away, the attack missing him.
I scrambled backward. “Hoshi!”
She burst out of my belt pouch, her silvery glow washing over me.
“Get this rope off me!” I told her urgently, still retreating as the three cultists circled Ezra, none of them willing to get in range of his attacks—but that wouldn’t last long.
She ducked behind me and I felt a hard tug on the ropes pinning my arms to my sides.
The demon mage cultist leered at Ezra, then raised his hand. A new spell snaked across Ezra’s hand in answer. The demon mage vaulted toward Ezra, then swerved sideways as Ezra flung a blast of red power. It shot past the cultist, hit the ground, and exploded in a rain of dirt clods.
The rope around my arms dropped away.
Ezra spun on his heel and sprang at the demon mage cultist. The third man lunged in, and as the swordsman lifted his weapon, I launched into action.
“Come on, Hoshi!”
She zoomed ahead of me and flashed past the swordsman’s face, causing him to pull up short. I jammed my brass knuckles on my fingers as the man pivoted toward me, his lethal blade angling for my chest.
I dove at his legs. As he stumbled back in surprise at my unexpected move, I thrust out my fist and shouted, “Ori amplifico!”
My knuckles hit his kneecap with a horrifying crunch. His leg flew backward from the blow, which caused him to pitch forward—on top of me.
The air puffed from my lungs as he flattened me into the grass. I whipped an elbow into a soft spot in his torso, then shoved up and sideways, throwing him off me. He rolled onto his side, clutching his leg, his face white and eyes bulging.
A few feet away, Hoshi clutched the pommel of his sword, the point dragging on the ground as she floated backward.
As I leaped up, a detonation of red power blasted me right off my feet again. A concussive wave of crimson magic swept out from Ezra, throwing his assailants back. The two cultists slammed down.
“Ori celare caligine!” the third one gasped.
Maroon-tinged smoke boiled out from him. It swept across the clearing, covering ten times the square footage of my smoke bombs. My vision blurred, and I rose into an uncertain crouch.
“Hoshi!”
Her glowing form appeared, and she flicked her tail. A powerful gust of wind blew across me, but the mist barely stirred.
Footsteps thudded loudly, and I tensed. Two shadows appeared, one with gleaming red eyes. The cultists. The sorcerer grabbed his newly gimped pal, while the demon mage swiveled toward me.
I didn’t move, painfully aware that he could kill me before I could get my paintball gun out. Hoshi drifted closer, her fear dancing in my mind.
The demon mage sneered, then swept into the mist. His two minions rushed after him, one supporting the other.
I shot to my feet and whipped out my paintball gun, but they’d already disappeared. Shit.
“Ezra?” I yelled.
He rushed out of the mist, left eye glowing. “Where are they?”
I pointed in the direction they’d vanished. “That way.”
He hesitated, then shook his head. “This spell is messing with my aero magic. I can’t sense their movements.”
“Then we find them the old-fashioned way,” I declared, marching forward.
I got two steps before he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “No … we should let them go.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I think they want us to follow them.” His frown deepened. “Or … maybe not, but they want something. They weren’t even trying to kill me. The demon mage didn’t use his magic.”
I holstered my gun as my stomach sank with cold dread. “Then what was the point of ambushing us?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to walk into another trap.”
The Court was good at setting traps. Even though our guild had watched this location for any sign of cult activity, it seemed the cult had been spying on us instead. And as much as I hated backing down, I had to agree with Ezra’s assessment. Chasing them was stupid, especially when it was just me and Ezra against another demon mage.
But what had the cult wanted—and had they gotten it?
Chapter Five
Hot water rushed down my face and splashed over my shoulders. Head tilted back, I breathed the steamy air, trying to calm the tight, itchy anxiety in my chest.
Was there a point where fear and dread and urgency overloaded your system and you stopped feeling them? Could that happen? Numbness would be an improvement over this never-ending sense of doom.
Eyes closed against the spray, I reached out blindly and nudged the tap. The shower’s temperature increased another degree, threatening to scorch my skin. The heat pounded down on me, something to feel besides the churning emotions.
Yesterday’s attack in the cemetery wasn’t the scariest thing I’d witnessed, or participated in, since falling into this secret world of mythics and magic, but it had confirmed our suspicion that there was at least one demon mage in Vancouver.
When Ezra had been the only demon mage I knew, his frightening power had been our special weapon. Now that destructive demonic magic was our enemies’ weapon too. What if we succeeded in un-demon-maging Ezra? He’d get the world’s biggest power demotion, going from “unstoppable paragon of destruction” to an average aeromage. And the cult would still be trying to kill him. He knew too many of their secrets.
My phone, sitting on the bathroom counter, chimed loudly. I ignored it, steaming myself like a lobster and hoping the heat would steady my nerves.
It chimed twice more, and when I still didn’t reply to whoever wanted my attention, it began to ring. Swearing, I pushed the plastic curtain open, letting a rush of cold air into the steamy innards of the shower.
