6. Chapter 6

Okay, so I had definitely waited too long to get my ass over here to the human realm and grab the medicine that kept me alive. By the time we got out of the pharmacy with my backpack full of drugs, my head was pounding, and it felt hard to breathe. My vision was blurry too—had been for a while now. And the nausea was getting worse. I just needed to get home and start pumping myself full of insulin, fluids, and potions, and eventually I"d even back out. I hoped.

So, of course, that"s when the asshole bounty hunters showed up. Using my name at the pharmacy was stupid, I knew that. But it kept us from needing to wait till the place was closed and perform a more extensive break-in. I had hoped we would be in and out before the SA had a chance to react. And we were. It was just these assholes we had to deal with.

In a way, magical bounty hunters were worse than the SA"s little grunts. The SA employed powerful people, sure. But they liked to at least pretend they followed rules and had the best interests of the people in mind. These guys didn"t let that kind of bullshit get in their way. They were usually just thugs who didn"t give a crap who got hurt as long as they got paid. And if the SA was paying the bounty under the table, the way I suspected… then these guys stood to make a lot of money by hauling my ass in or killing me on the spot.

All of this flashed through my mind as I tried to figure out how to handle this. The only reason they hadn"t already started firing their guns or throwing magic around, even with human bystanders, was because they thought I"d come with them just to keep that from happening. They were wrong. But I didn"t have the chance to tell them that, because I was too busy losing the battle with my nausea.

I projectile vomited so hard I probably expelled some organs. The thug in front of me looked like a pretty hardened guy, but I think anyone would be surprised. He jumped back a few steps instinctively as my spew splattered his boots and his pant legs. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and straightened as I fought off the continual urge to puke. Because of course, seeing puke just made me want to puke more. Ugh.

I tried to gather up my magic for a defensive spell, but everything was spinning, and my body was struggling to handle the magic that coursed into me. I almost forgot that this was the exact reason I hadn"t been allowed to come here alone.

All around us, big, strong bounty hunters hit the ground, clutching at their throats as their lungs filled up with water. Hasumi"s cool hand touched the back of my neck as the water weaver leaned in to peer at me in concern, easily drowning people while focusing on me.

"Oleander? Should I carry you?"

I rolled my eyes, which just made my head hurt worse. "Ow. No, I don"t need to be fucking carried." The slender, ethereal being was so much smaller than me it would be comical. But I wouldn"t be at all surprised if Hasumi had enough supernatural strength to make it possible for them to run around hauling my not-so-tiny ass. I headed off down the sidewalk to prove I was just fine, thanks. Only swaying and stumbling a little.

Hasumi sighed and followed me. The sounds of gurgling from the bounty hunters and the panicked calls for help from the civilians who had no clue what was going on faded behind us. "How long can you keep that up?" I asked as we hurried away from the center of town.

Hasumi shrugged at my side. "Probably for several more blocks, if I needed to. But they"ll be dead in about another minute or so."

I stumbled over my feet and shot a glance at the water weaver. "You"re going to kill them?" I didn"t exactly care—after all, they had planned on killing us or turning us over the SA to be killed, so it was kind of us or them. But Hasumi was a creature of emotion, one who could feel and sense things on a level no one else could. Even though they had yet to open up about it, I knew that whatever the stupid O"Learys had done to the weaver had hurt them in a way that I probably couldn"t even fathom. Hasumi was one of the most powerful beings I"d ever met. But they weren"t made to kill.

"Let up before they die," I said flatly. "They"ll be after us again once they get back on their feet, but we can make it to the portal before then. Probably. And that way I won"t have to live with anymore awful shit on my conscience."

Hasumi probably knew I was bullshitting for their benefit, but I felt the shift in their magic as they let go of the spell they had cast, banishing the water from the bounty hunters" lungs. "As you wish," the weaver murmured.

We reached the edge of town without the bounty hunters catching up, somehow. But I stumbled to a halt when I saw what waited for us. "Well, shit," I said, grasping for a hold on my magic.

Hasumi stopped beside me and gave me a confused look. "What is it?"

I gestured impatiently at the field. And the herd of various creatures in SA uniforms that stood between us and our way out of here. "How the fuck did they convince a manticore and a unicorn to join them? This is just ridiculous."

I pulled up a ball of glowing energy, forming it into a curse the way Dyre had taught me, but Hasumi put a hand on my arm. "Oleander? Andy. What are you talking about?"

I paused and looked at him, even as Director Strom charged at me, riding a rhino in battle armor. "The… army about to murder us?" At their confused look around us, I rubbed a hand over my face. "Goddess fuck a duck." Hasumi certainly hadn"t dyed their hair pink anytime in the last five minutes. "I"m hallucinating."

I looked back and the army was gone. Just a cornfield. I dropped the curse that I"d been holding and absorbed the magic back into myself as Hasumi put a hand to my lower back and pushed me forward. "I daresay."

I snorted. "Rhinos in battle armor," I muttered. Even as a purple zebra wanted to form at my periphery. We had almost made it to the portal when a very tall, furiousredheaded necromancer stepped through and joined us.

Dyre"s long hair floated around him in a breeze that didn"t exist, and every bit of him was limned with black magic, just simmering through his aura, waiting to be unleased. The furious eyes that focused on me were mismatched, one violet, one pure black as Sunshine and Dyre shared control of their body. "Witch," Sunshine"s eerie voice demanded. "We felt you pull a curse through our lifebond with you. What has happened? Where is the threat?"

I sighed. The lifebond. I was so stupid. I could have pulled on the bond at any time. Could have obliterated anyone who threatened me without Hasumi"s help. But I wasn"t exactly firing on all cylinders here. A shout came from behind us, and I turned to see what looked like an actual SA unit closing in across the field. Something inside me stirred. Something dark and cold, and terribly vengeful. I was very tempted to blast their asses into oblivion.

But then I"d be the dangerous criminal the SA accused me of being. And I refused to let them win. "Come on," I said, pushing down what I knew was a bit of Sunshine"s lust for pain and suffering. "Let"s go the fuck home before I puke again."

Dyre looked like he wasn"t convinced that we shouldn"t just murder some people, but Hasumi took my hand and let me into the portal, and the necromancer had little choice but to follow, if his host was going to continue to fuss over me.

Boy, we were one fucked-up bunch.

When we all reached the pocket world in one piece, I found all the others standing there waiting for us in various stages of agitation. Aahil was smoking, but he wasn"t actually on fire, so his new necklace must be working. His eyes were liquid gold with fury. Niamh was all decked out with weapons like she had been about to leap through the portal after Dyre. And Zhong"s wings were fully extended and his fangs bared.

"Stand down," I muttered to the idiots. "Goddess, what was the point of me going alone if you morons were just going to rush off into danger after me the second things went wrong?"

Ambrose materialized at my side and kissed the top of my head, saying nothing. But Niamh spoke for all of them, her voice angry and biting. "And what the hell happens to us when you get yourself killed, witch? Will this pocket world die with you? Will we be trapped here? Use your brain!"

She reached me in three angry strides and yanked me in to kiss me so hard my lips felt bruised. Then she pulled away and wrinkled her cute freckled nose at me. "You smell disgusting, and you taste like an invalid."

I huffed a laugh. "Love you too, babe."

I swayed on my feet as a wave of dizziness hit me. But I needed to close that portal before someone got the bright idea to follow us.

And on that cheerful thought, an SA agent came bursting through into our midst with a gun in one hand, a glowing red ball of magic forming in the other. "Got you, Lovell," he bellowed as he raised the gun to point at my face.

Everyone moved at once, but it was swift, graceful little Aahil who got there first, even with his magic dampened. I watched in what seemed like slow motion as the jinn yanked the bloody dagger out of the man"s chest before anyone even realized he"d been stabbed.

Apparently, the little ball of rage didn"t need magic to fuck people up. His snarl was feral as his victim dropped the gun and fell to his knees. "O"Leary pig," the jinn hissed, his sculpted lips pulling back to expose the sharp points of his canines.

Aahil must have hit an organ or five, because the guy"s eyes rolled back into his head and he fell sideways to sprawl on the ground, soaking the courtyard with blood.

"Fuck, Aahil," I murmured. Vicious. So vicious.

The jinn was smoking again. Clearly, this was a good time to have his fire magic under lock and key. Heightened emotions and all. He kicked the corpse with one bare foot and growled, then knelt to riffle through the man"s pockets. "He"s an O"Leary. I recognize him from before. But he"s in SA uniform."

I nodded, my misfiring brain trying to sort out what that meant. But Dyre drew me from my contemplation as a surge of his dark magic filled the air. Aahil backed away from the corpse as the dead man groaned and sat up, then awkwardly got to his feet. I glanced at Dyre in surprise, but the necromancer just shrugged. "He can guard the courtyard. Are you going to close the portal now, or did you want to let in a few more? Start building us an army?"

I shook my head at his unconcerned tone. Like he really would build me an undead army if I wanted him to. Goddess. "I"ll close the damned thing. Fuck"s sake." I shambled over to the portal, but Dyre took pity on me and came to help.

"Let me borrow a bit of your magic and I"ll close it," he snapped. "We"re still bonded, might as well take advantage of it while it lasts."

I nodded and let his bitter commentary go for the moment. The necromancer didn"t fall on his ass the way I had. But he was knocked back a few steps as the unstable magic I had created lashed out when the portal closed. I snorted. "Careful, kicks like a mule."

He gave me an unimpressed look. "You"re a walking hazard, you know that?"

I opened my mouth to say that I had fucked up the flow of magic to create this place, but at least we weren"t dead… but I got dizzy again. This time, I couldn"t catch myself. A pair of solid arms stopped my fall and heaved me up against a thickly muscled, t-shirt clad chest.

"Master, did you get your medicine?" Zhong"s deep voice rumbled through me, and I nodded, feeling sleepy and chilled.

"Yeah. Backpack." I closed my eyes as he carried me out of the courtyard. But not before I heard Dyre"s muttered commands telling the corpse with the gun to guard the place.

Maybe I was still hallucinating. One could only hope.