Antebellum Awakening (The Network Series #2)(96)

“I know that you’re desperate!” I said, hooking my shield back onto my arm once she retreated. She had a caged, agitated look in her eyes I hadn’t seen before. Every witch has a weakness, Isadora’s voice whispered from the depths of my memory. “You haven’t found the book. Is that the task Angelina set for you? That’s why you were gone for so long, searching for it. You still haven’t found it because you’re completely incompetent at anything that doesn’t involve controlling other witches.”

The last comment was another guess, a wild card thrown out in hopes of being on target. She smiled, but it had a flicker of gravity and rage that I didn’t miss. Rage meant I struck a sore spot. Miss Mabel wanted the Almorran Book of Spells for certain.

“Oh, how little you know about the evil in our world,” she crooned.

I swung my arm, sending my shield at her like a javelin. She covered her body with her own shield, but the power behind my throw sent her back against the wall again. I rushed forward with Viveet, blue flames dancing high, but Miss Mabel rolled out of the way and the tip of my sword hit only glass. My shield returned to its position in front of me.

“I know you,” I said, panting. “Which means I know more about evil than I ever cared to.”

I ran at her again, sword flying. She fended me off, locking us into a battle of back and forth around the whole length of the circle. My instincts took over the motions while the power made me strong. I nicked her cheek, burning some of her hair and setting the fabric at her neck on fire. Seconds later I felt a deep bite of pain in my wrist. Viveet clattered to the floor, smoking and lifeless.

I grabbed my hand and gritted my teeth. Blood seeped fast from the wound. My head began to feel light, so I dropped to my knees. How much blood had I lost? I redirected the magic to my arm, whispering a healing incantation under my breath. I had no hope without a sword to fight her off. My shield protected me, but it would do little alone.

“Oh, I do love to see you bowing before me,” she murmured with wicked delight, then leaned her head back and laughed. Heat filled my wrist, my hand. I felt the ebb of blood slow. The sticky liquid stopped spilling around my fingers. It worked.

Miss Mabel sauntered around to face me. “There isn’t a single witch in Antebellum that I care for except myself, and I never have. I shall find great joy in watching the life leave your body, you arrogant little rat.”

She disappeared. I whirled around, grabbed my shield, and pulled it over me just as Miss Mabel brought her sword down on top with a heavy blow. I sent power into the shield at the same moment. Her sword shattered into a hundred pieces on the floor while my shield cracked in half, a great fissure forming down the middle. I opened my injured hand and called Viveet. Miss Mabel grabbed my shoulder from behind and jerked me up just as I caught Viveet. She burst into a white-hot flame, dancing high and fast.

“I’m much stronger than you think,” Miss Mabel hissed, grabbing my sword arm with supernatural strength. Viveet fell to the ground again, inert. I tried to force Miss Mabel away by magic alone, but her power overwhelmed me. She yanked my arms up my back, squeezing until I thought the bone would shatter. The only thing that prevented her from grinding me into dust was the resistance of my angry, roiling power.

“This could go on forever, you know,” Miss Mabel goaded, right next to my ear, pushing my arm up so far it would soon dislocate from my shoulder. “We could be locked in the Mactos circle for an eternity, fighting. Both of us are so driven by hate that the magic may never stop.”

Just beyond the glass stood Merrick, his chest heaving, purple flames dancing on his sword. He tilted his head down imperceptibly.

Do it, his eyes seemed to say.

“No,” I said to Miss Mabel. “I’m stopping this now.”

I lifted my foot, and with all the focus I had left, I kicked back into her right knee. The bone broke with an audible crack and Miss Mabel dropped to the ground. I whirled around, grabbed her hair, yanked it back, and forced her to her knees. Viveet leapt to my free hand as Miss Mabel released a scream of pain. The white, pearly skin of her neck glowed against Viveet’s searing blue blade.

“Don’t move,” I whispered.

She stared at me with glimmering sapphire eyes, then lifted one side of her lips in a challenging smile.

“Well played again, Bianca,” she whispered, her nostrils flaring in pain. “Go ahead. Take your revenge. I would have taken everything from you.”

I pulled on her hair, tightening my sword against her neck. The skin pulsed at the base of her throat where Viveet sat. A thin line of blood appeared. She smiled with a cold evil that touched right to my soul.

“I shall find great joy in watching the life leave your body,” I said.

“Angelina is already watching you, Bianca Monroe. You and your father. Killing me will only bring her on you faster. Consider yourself warned. She doesn’t take lightly to people interfering with her plans.”

“Good,” I hissed. “Let her come. We aren’t afraid of Angelina.”

Miss Mabel smiled. “You will be. She’ll destroy you.”

“You’ve earned your grave, do you understand that?” I asked, yanking her hair again. The muscles in her neck tightened, pulling her face into a grimace. “No one will cry over you, a heartless fool.”

Our eyes locked. She dared me in a silent challenge.