Demons (Darkness #4)(35)

“Just don’t blow anything up,” Charles droned.

I breathed in deep and squeezed my eyes shut for just one second. Regrouped, I put on a smile and addressed Birdie. “Sorry about all this. I’m still learning. Anyway, we have a different take on magic than you probably realize. For example…”

I sucked in the elements, mixing them just right. Barely thinking, I enclosed Charles in an extremely electric containment box. An extremely electric, smallish containment box. Mouth off again, I dare you.

Charles stood unnaturally still, glancing at the hazy black box around him.

“Throw something at him,” I offered the women.

“Please don’t,” he muttered, not moving anything but his mouth and eyes.

“I will,” Ann volunteered. She picked up a rock and threw it as hard as she could. A shower of sparks blasted out from point of contact, most of them on the outside of the box, but a few singeing his skin. He flinched, his eyebrows dipping low.

Jonas smirked.

“What is that…” Delilah leaned in, analyzing the box.

“Is this a trick of some kind?” Birdie asked.

I shook my head. “I’m human. Just like you. Magic is real. You felt me in your…circle earlier. Someone helped me with that spell. This is real, it’s just not advertised.”

“Then who are they?” Birdie motioned to the guys around me.

“That’s a lesson for another day. For now, I want to get to know more about you. About your magic. See if you would be up for learning more about it. Maybe using it.”

“Possibly you would like to come back to the mansion?” Dominicous asked.

“Just coerce them,” Jonas grumbled. “Humans just need the suggestion and they fall in like sheep. Weak-willed race, all of them.”

I’d had it.

Jonas was the next to get a black box. His glare made my butt tingle, but I didn’t care. His tattoos swirled to life, orange and shimmering. With a hand like a claw, he raked down the front of the box. Sparks lit up the parking lot, burning his skin.

“What is he doing?” one of the twins exclaimed—they looked identical. I’d forgotten what name went with who.

“He’s being cranky,” I answered.

Jonas raked down again, trying to weaken the box with the runes swirling his arms. But I shot black. He’d try all night if he wanted. I may learn slow, but I did learn, so eat it.

I turned back to the girls as Charles said, “Just take it, bro. You don’t want her to duel you. She comes up with nasty shit that hurts for a week. If you’re lucky. One time, my balls literally itched for a month. No one wanted to touch me—thought I was the first to contract one of the human sexual viruses.”

“This is quite entertaining, but it’s getting late, Sasha,” Dominicous chided gently. “I would like to check in with dinner preparations and speak with Toa.”

“Yeah, sorry.” I brushed my hair out of my face distractedly. “So, ladies, uh…do you want to learn more about your magic? Maybe come with us to the mansion—where we live? We can fill you in and maybe see about classes and whatnot.”

“The mansion?” Birdie shook her head confusedly. “Listen, this is all…interesting, but Jen has a family to get back to, and the rest of us have to work tomorrow.”

“Right, of course.” I took out one of my newly printed business cards. Below my name was: “Black.” Other than that, there was a phone number and address. That was it.

“Think about it. Think about how it felt when I joined your circle. About what I’m able to do with my magic. I know you could do that, too. You are able to access it, and that is the hardest part. Well, for most humans.”

Birdie fingered the card before tucking it into a pocket in her skirt. “We’ll see.”

“And if you want,” I continued, stepping toward the retreating four girls, “come by tomorrow at sundown. Or any time tomorrow night.”

Birdie gave me a small nod as she shepherded the girls away. I watched them walk away in silence, hoping beyond hope they chose to, at least, learn more. That feeling of unity, of harmony, had been so natural and gratifying. I wanted to feel it again; to work as a team. As a unit.

“They will come around,” Dominicous said, moving toward the car. “They just have to allow time for their minds to expand and include these fantastic ideas. Human females are much better at adapting then males.”

“Make them come around,” Jonas growled, staring at me not unlike that caged demon the other day.

“I’m going to head out,” Ann said, stepping closer. “I want to check in with Tim. Plus, I have a date.”

“With whom?” Charles and I asked together.

Ann gave me a sly smile. “We’ll chat later. Gotta run.”

Without an ounce of bashfulness, she stripped down to nothing and handed me her clothes. “Keep those, would ya? Buying new clothes is getting expensive.”

Green magic enveloped her, her grimace quickly changing into the furry face of a mountain lion. A feline purr echoed off the cars. With the grace only a big cat could muster, she turned tail and loped into the trees. Gone to hunt, or run, or just let her magical side run free. I smiled after her.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” With a last glance toward the site that had held that nasty spell, I wondered, and feared at the same time, when another creation would be turned loose. And how powerful of a demon it would be.