A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(46)

But Abigail didn’t seem the slightest bit afraid of them. She was flanked by four witches, each with the blank expression of being controlled by the darkness. Which made it five against four.

“Get to the car,” bit out Bastian as he moved to stand in front of Claudia.

At the same time, Derek started to push Sam behind him, but she made sure she still could see what was happening. From their night together, she felt energized and ready to contribute whatever she needed to the fight. She had learned from painful experience that she might not be enough to take on Abigail, but she was willing to do what she could to the minions.

Abigail ignored everyone and stared directly at Claudia. “Going to run from me again? Your lungs must be exhausted from all this cowardice.”

Sam looked between the two women. Abigail was throwing out a lot of threats, but she’d never actually attacked Claudia. What was she waiting for?

Bastian wasn’t playing around, though. One hand still held a sword, but the other grabbed a dagger, and he threw it through the air and impaled one of Abigail’s minions through the heart.

The witch Sam barely knew fell dead on the street. Black liquid oozed out from the knife wound. The confrontation had been reasonably private until then, but the early morning crowds of people around them saw the attack and a woman screamed. Just like that, chaos erupted as people started to scatter.

Derek aimed his gun at Abigail but didn’t shoot.

Was he waiting to see what Abigail was going to do or was he remembering that beneath the deep hold the darkness had on the minions, there was a real person who probably was being used against their will?

Well, Sam had been that person once, and she knew just how improbable it was to save them. And she hated to admit it, but they were already too far gone. And the longer Derek waited, the more chance he’d be caught in the crossfire.

She took a page from Bastian’s fighting style and shot a blast of fire at two of the minions. Their reaction time was dulled by the darkness, and it was only after they started to burn that they both ducked for cover. Derek fired off three shots at the fourth minion, hitting him in the chest each time, causing him to fall to the pavement and the oily substance to spill onto the ground.

Abigail considered the three of them. “I appreciate your balls, but this doesn’t concern you.” Then with a wave of both of her hands, she sent Bastian, Derek, and Sam flying away from Claudia.

The magical blow was so forceful that Sam didn’t stop until she slammed into a nearby car. Any pedestrians who weren’t scrambling away before were now full on running. Sam tried to push herself up to run back to Claudia, but her arms seemed to forget how to work. It had taken the three of them to take out the minions, and Abigail hadn’t even batted an eyelash.

But Claudia was stronger than all of them. She had to be able to put a dent in the darkness.

“Just the two of us, Mommy Dearest,” said Abigail in a singsong voice, belying the danger of the situation.

“You’re not my daughter.” Claudia clapped her hands together.

The shockwave reverberated through the entire street. Sam could feel the tremors shoot through her, and Abigail shuddered and strained to hold her place. But to Sam’s sinking despair, she didn’t move.

If Claudia couldn’t stop Abigail, she would die. Abigail smiled. The motion twisted her features, and her dark eyes seemed to become bigger and inhuman. “This has been a long time coming. I’m almost going to miss you.” She held out a hand.

It was as if she were calling fire, but it turned black and dark. Like the opposite of fire. Something cold and empty and terrifying.

“Claudia!” screamed Sam as she pushed up on her feet and started to run.

She heard Derek call her name in the distance, but she couldn’t just sit back and watch this. As she ran, she called the fire to her and started to shoot it at Abigail as soon as she had the opportunity.

She waited for Claudia to take over. To shoot another energy blast or anything to protect herself. Except when she waved her hand, nothing seemed to happen. At first.

Then the cracking, rumbling sound reverberated through the street. Sam looked up right as the top hundred or so feet of the nearest skyscraper started to tumble away from the building and careened toward her. Sam liked to think she was getting better with the pressure, but she found herself glued in place as she watched it fall.

The seconds seemed to stretch to minutes and she closed her eyes, absolutely sure she was about to die. But when the stone hit concrete, the tremors shook the ground around her, the vibrations signaling that she hadn’t died.

Sam cracked open an eye and looked around her. The clouds of dust took a moment to clear away. The first thing she saw was Claudia’s stone-cold face as she looked over the wreckage. She turned in a circle and saw that Abigail had jumped out of the way just in time and was pulling herself up. The only person who was missing was....

A strangled noise escaped her throat. She had to be wrong. Sam started to run around the rubble, expecting to see Derek on the ground on the other side. He would’ve gotten out of the way. He had to. He was so much stronger and smarter than her. He would’ve heard the crumbling and known exactly what to do. He would’ve—

Then she saw it. The hand. The big, strong capable hand that was now motionless. And the piece of building it was under was impossibly big. But it was okay. She had magic on her side. She’d free Derek from the rubble and then she would heal him. Or she’d get Claudia to heal him. She could do this. With a wave of her hand, the rock crushing Derek was moved and tumbling down the now mostly deserted street.