Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(2)

Turning the arch into a slide, I scraped the dirt and punched upward as I moved under him. My fist connected with his package hard enough to lift him into the air.

“Eeeiiii.”

The sound he made didn’t seem quite human.

I popped up on the other side of him and worked Penny’s spell, which hovered around the clearing like a fart. If I burned it from the outside in, I could usually get rid of the thing.

Cahal staggered, the very first time I’d ever seen him do so. Not wasting my advantage, still working Penny’s spell, I sprinted forward and considered a one-two punch to his melon. That would get him back in the game, though. He had an amazing ability to ignore injuries in order to keep busting heads. Right now he was wallowing in his bruised manhood. I wanted to make the most of his distraction.

So I ripped his blindfold off.

Clowns danced into the clearing, blood oozing down their chins and dripping onto the ground. The fluffy purple sky rained candy canes, bouncing around us on the gumdrop-studded ground. The wounded elephant laboriously limped down the path, pathetic in its dying, its gaze pleading.

Cahal’s eyes rounded and then darted around, horror slacking his jaw.

Bingo.

I’d gotten today’s world-building perfectly right. It had taken a couple of months for me to suss out all his hates, fears, and dislikes, but this payoff was worth it.

Penny’s spell dissolved away, and I commenced a full-scale attack, kicking Cahal while he was down. It was the only way to take on this freaking druid. It was intensely hard to make him say uncle.

Air-throwing stars ripped into his flesh. Fire burst to life under his feet and grew quickly, the heat sweltering. I was one of very few magical creatures who possessed the ability to use hellfire, but that would actually kill him. No go.

I created a spear with air, instead, and threw it at his stomach. He could heal like a vampire. Like me. He’d live if it skewered him.

His sword swished in an arc, though, cutting through my magic and actually deflecting the spear.

“I still don’t understand how you can do that,” I said, tossing more air-throwing stars and then two more spears, keeping him occupied while I tried to burn him at the imaginary stake.

He did a hot-footed dance, his sword whirling like a tornado, flinging away all my efforts. I smashed air down on top of him, but before I could flatten him to the ground, he punched upward. His fist connected with the solid air, and the sheer strength of his will stopped its downward trajectory.

“You are losing power because you’re using too many magical elements at once,” he said, his voice quavering with the effort. He gave a mighty heave and shoved the magic off, still dancing gracefully within my flames as he moved across the squishy gumdrops, the fire trailing him. “Reduce the various elements of your magic and focus on the kill strike.”

“Any hint on which I should reduce?”

“This horrible world you’ve created would be nice.”

Good hint.

I cut out the fire, not hot enough to do lasting damage (on purpose), and stopped the air assault. He paused for a moment, and a gleam lit his eyes. He nodded slightly. I’d read him correctly. He was too good for half-baked assaults. They would never beat him, something I hadn’t properly learned in the past. He’d always fight me until I ran out of steam, and then he’d pummel me.

Messing with his mind, though…

The elephant gave a mighty wail as it shrank down to a baby elephant, crying for him, stumbling his way. On the other side of the clearing, I created its mournful mother, the building of even this small world taxing but fun. I called it a win every time Cahal reacted, even slightly. If he flinched, it was the equivalent of a normal person screaming and curling up into a ball.

The fluffy purple sky shifted down, enveloping us, and chocolate welled up and flowed in little eddies and streams around us, carrying marshmallows on top.

He licked his plush lips, his eyes darting again. Then…he smirked. It was the first I’d ever seen him do it.

“You’re pretty hot when you grin. Has anyone ever told you that?” I built up my power, circling him slowly.

He stalked toward me, wariness in his eyes, his grin fading. Then his gaze darted to the wounded baby elephant. He had a few heartstrings hidden deep down inside of him, it seemed.

“Don’t like when someone mentions your appearance, huh?” I badgered. “Have you gotten a complex from women treating you like a side of beef all your life?”

His gaze bored into mine. “You are world class at sensing and exploiting weaknesses.”

“I’ve had to be. Working in a magical community while hiding my magic… It helped me develop a sort of”—I flung an air spear at him that erupted in fire at the last moment; he swung his sword in a graceful circle, deflecting it—“penchant for survival.” I grinned. “People don’t focus on you so much when they’re battling their own demons.”

“You should not actually throw the air with your hand. You don’t need to, and it alerts me to your plans.”

“Riiight… Put that on the list of items to practice.”

“Yes.” And then he burst into movement, zipping across the clearing like a phantom, shadows draping around him, making it hard to track his movements.

I threw up an air shield, and then made copies of the baby elephant. Yeah, I could do that. I stamped those suckers all around us as Cahal tried to bash through my shield with his expert sword moves.