Jonas (Darkness #7)(30)

“None of them have the power like we do, or he wouldn’t be struggling with the flux. He works. That is helpful.”

“So… can we attack him, or what? I can blow up the ledge he’s standing on pretty easily.”

Paulie’s fast movement caught my eye. He ripped something out of his belt and pointed it straight ahead. A moment later the loud boom of a gun blasted across the battlefield. More than one person flinched. The man that was running at Dominicous’ back, sword drawn, jerked back as a blossom of blood appeared in the center of his chest.

Charles looked at Paulie with wide eyes. “You brought a gun?”

Paulie shrugged, watching the battle with fervent eyes. “It doesn’t do much on magic, sure, but it sure cuts through the bullshit with flesh and blood.”

“Hide it again, son,” Cato said with strain in his voice. “Magic can be used to render such objects useless. At least hard to handle. Use it sparingly and only against those who are not as fluent in magic.”

Paulie slipped the weapon back into his belt.

“Now. The fun begins.” Cato blast off a spell to a man I hadn’t noticed in a third floor window containing no glass. It wrapped around him with stinging fire, but not as potent as I would’ve liked. I added my crude violence to the spell to finish it up.

The man screamed and clawed at his body. Nathanial staggered and looked in the direction of his counterpart even though he wouldn’t have been able to see from his vantage point. A moment later, his head slowly tilted down to our location. And then sighted Cato. A grim smile lit up the handsome face.

Game on.

A spell whipped off toward us so fast I couldn’t even think. I couldn’t react. I stood there stupidly as white and black swirling magic interceded and tore it apart before it could reach us.

“You see, each of us can work with our combined might. We do not have to be next to each other to use our combined magic,” Cato replied calmly as two spells I didn’t recognize zipped back toward that ledge. They never reached the man.

Another intricate spell came firing back at us. “We’re a standing target!” I jumped from foot to foot. I wanted to throw a rock. At least he couldn’t disintegrate a rock!

Could he?

“He is also standing still. This is a magical duel and his ingenuity has grown. Sadly, mine has not. I can barely keep his attacks off of us. It is time for you to earn your reputation, Sasha. Find a way to cut him down.”

My mouth dropped open as a beautiful layer of mist sped our way. I threw up a shield at the last minute but Cato had already disbanded it. The shield wouldn’t have worked, anyway. That spell had magical drills. He was expecting a shield, and it would’ve bored right through mine.

Shit. He was so far above me I was in awe. How the hell was I supposed to stop him?

“C’mon, Sasha!” Charles grabbed my arm and ripped me forward. “You’re in your head. Nothing good comes when you think. Let’s get moving. Get the blood flowing. I need to kill something.”

“Amen,” Paulie said, jogging with us.

Charles was right. I didn’t stand still and wait for spells to come to me. I… did other things. Like run around like an idiot. Things always seemed to work out that way. Somehow.

“Okay. Nathanial is kicking our ass magic-wise. So a sword in his back is warranted, I think. Also, we need to get Jonas out of there. So… into the belly!” I took out my sword and applied a burst of speed. We had a thick crowd of aggressive enemy to get through before we even made it to the building. It’d take a second.

I zipped off blasts of fire to stun two huge guys in front of me before firing off a nasty, spiky spell toward Mr. Wizard and his stupid white robe. As Charles and Paulie stepped forward to stab the men, I watched Nathanial stagger on his perch as his shield was hit and raked by my spell. Before he could turn his head in the direction of the spell, Cato had used the distraction to fire a spell of his own.

“We have to keep moving. That Nathanial can throw spells without looking, I’d bet. And I won’t be able to—“ A snowflake-looking spell flew toward me. I didn’t know what it was, what it did, or how to get rid of it.

“Run!” I screamed. I pushed the boys into a wall of men and then blasted my way through. Limbs went everywhere—thank God they were all once attached to the enemy at one time and not my guys. Plants sprang up out of the ground and started to grow into the monsters they’d become. Fireworks and distracting spells crackled in the sky. An explosion blasted the building right next to Nathanial.

Yes, I had done all of that. No, I did not remember initiating any of those spells. Death was on my doorstep, and he wore an absurd white robe.

Chapter Nine

All else forgotten, Jonas launched through the door. His bare chest met a furry body. They both hit the ground and rolled. Jonas was up first, standing in front of Emmy with his hands out wide and his eyes on fire. The wolf he’d tackled rolled to its feet as another two stared at him with hackles raised and teeth bared.

“You Tim’s lot?” Jonas asked in a growl. “Because if so, I won’t kill you.”

The wolf closest, which still had dirt in its coat, huffed. It shook out its body. The growls from the other two cut off.

“Right. Emmy is on our side. Carry on.” Jonas glanced back at Emmy. Her face was pale but her mouth was set in grim determination.