Chapter 17

Alice

"There we go." Hands on my hips, I watched the panther scramble up the side of the building, nearly slipping twice when the bricks crumbled under his paws. "You guys will give me a heart attack one of these days. Pfft!"

Wiping at the sweat that beaded on my forehead with my sleeve, I heard Brooklyn's cry of pain. I looked up and down the side of the house. No one was there. Not even bugs could be seen flying around. Which was weird. If nothing else, there were always mosquitos around the property.

"Maybe they are all up on the roof, too, for a free meal. It's a bloodbath, I have no doubt." Shivering from the picture my mind created about the fight, I laughed uneasily. "They left me behind anyway and I could help in a fight. They know it."

Leaning my back against the house, I crossed my arms over my chest and stabbed the toe of my shoe at the patch of grass in front of me, like it was its fault my friends thought I was a weakling. Not that I was sure how I felt about that demonic magic. Not really. Maybe that's why it was all pitch black and freezing cold when I had barely clung to my life. I must've been in hell for refusing to believe there was God.

In my defense, no one enlightened me, and they all apparently knew that demons were real. Does that mean it's their fault or mine? And if no one per se said ‘Yo, Alice! Demons are real.' So, I had every intention to blame it on ignorance. With a nod to myself, I exhaled loudly and squared my shoulders. Instead of going inside and picking my way to the roof, I figured it'll be better if I patrol around the house. In a worst case scenario, I had the red magic. Demonic or not, I was going to use it to save my ass if it came down to it.

"I should've brought the dog with me." Pushing the glasses up my nose with a forefinger, I picked a side and started walking as softly as I could, so I don't announce myself if there was anyone slinking down around here.

Reaching into my satchel, I gripped one of the boom juices Rowen made for me, and raising my hand to the side, prepped to throw the vial of potion in someone's face if they jumped me.

"Ah!" My scream echoed around the empty space of the yard when something brushed the side of my face.

Flipping around, I lobbed the vial at whatever it was and jumped a foot when it exploded a dozen feet away. Dirt and grass flew up in the air and pelted me everywhere, including my face when gravity took over and they rained down. As soon as it settled down, I saw the moth flopping with one wing, limply, as it twirled to the ground and didn't move.

"Watch out world, here comes, Alice, the moth killer." I mocked myself and looked around to check if anyone saw me. My heart hurt for the moth but the poor soul was nowhere to be found. Please Universe make sure its okay while I made sure no one would laugh at me for this stunt. Craning my neck, I couldn't see anyone on the roof looking down either, so I figured I was safe from humiliation. I didn't need another strike against me for why I shouldn't get involved when everyone fought. "I'm taking this to my grave. How pathetic and such a waste of potion, Alice. Get a grip, woman! You should've known better than that."

I wondered how hard it was to make the vials as I picked the grass and dirt from my hair and flicked it away from me with disgust. A few more bodies dropped from the roof, and if I was not mistaken, a leg. Just a leg separated from the body. A shudder made me shiver slightly and I looked away.

If anyone told me a year or two ago that I would watch people being murdered and I'll only shiver because I didn't particularly like the sight of blood, I would've laughed in their face.

How things have changed. For the better, of course.

Life would've been boring, otherwise, without all my friends that were more of a family now.

That's why I had to figure out ways to contribute, and having this demon magic might just be it if I could learn to utilize it, only if God forgave me, which if I remember anything about religion, He should. As long as I felt bad about it. So, I thought anyway. I was sure I could make explosives with it just like the witch to help our cause and protect those I care about. I was practically an angel.

Did it cost Rowen a lot to make the potions? Did it drain his energy? Oh! Or maybe it depleted his magic since he was channeling to charge the fluid. I'd have to ask him when I got a chance and start taking notes. I was an entrepreneur; I could totally make that work. Carefully stepping over low plants and wading around rose bushes, I was so deep in thought that I almost missed the shadow that separated itself from the house.

The moment I saw it, I dived for the first largest bush that would cover me, which unfortunately was a rose bush. Thorns dug into my skin, piercing it in many places, but I was more worried about staying alive than bleeding from a few scratches. It was probably too good to be true to hope whoever that was that they didn't see me, especially after the explosion I caused by tossing the potion at the moth.

"Great job, Alice." I muttered under my breath as I crawled my way toward the group of larger topiaries. "You survived Brooklyn who is as badass as they come just so you could be killed because of a moth. Dumbass."

Nose scrunched up because I was pressing my hands to stuff that was squishy and I couldn't see what it was, I kept crawling as fast as I could while straining my ears to hear if I was being followed. My heart was beating so fast there was white noise in my ears, but I had to believe that I would hear it if someone was chasing me. It was either that or I would've started screaming from the top of my lungs for Brooklyn or Dominic.

Now, that would've been lower than pathetic.

Grinding my teeth, I focused on the red glow in my hands. If I could get that going, maybe I could defend myself from whoever was after me. The fighting from the roof was still in full swing with shouts and roars from up there echoing through the night. There was no doubt in my mind that no one would hear me if I called for help. Or I would be dead by the time one of them reached me. My heartbeat spiked up from the fear choking me and it made me lightheaded.

"I just escaped death's shovel, for fucks sake." Spitting the words out as quietly as I could, I was zooming toward the topiaries on hands and knees like a baby on crack doing my best to ignore all the twigs and rocks digging into my skin through the fabric of my pants. My glasses were sitting on the tip of my nose, but there was no time to push them up, so I prayed that they didn't fall. I was practically blind without them. With all the magic mambo jumbo, I thought my eyesight would've improved without them, but no. I had red hand sparks which did something, I guess, but I was still half blind the second the damn mason jars were off my face.

As soon as I reached the thick greenery, I'd be able to look around and maybe even throw one or two vials at whoever was there. So, that gave me a much-needed boost to get my butt moving faster. The majority of the intruders were on the roof by the sounds reaching my ears. Because they were dying there en masse, yet the fight kept going. Unless there was a portal made somehow and new ones were coming through it, all the Guardians sent to kill us were rushing to help their friends on top of the mansion.

Unsuccessfully, I might add.

Palms stinging from the scrapes I earned for my genius idea of crawling across the large expense of the yard, I finally reached the thick of topiaries reaching toward the sky like gnarled fingers. Leave it to Samir to see this and think to himself, you know what? This is stunning.

Our lives were as gloomy as they can get. Why couldn"t he put something like doves or dancing fairies there instead, so that we can look at pretty things at least. But no, he had to make sure that even the decorations looked like monsters trying to grab the moon and drown us in our misery.

Almost dying made sure that I"d barely moved out of the bed, so I was painting as I leaned back on the thick topiary, hugging it for dear life. Hand shaking, I petted my pants blindly in search of the satchel so I could check how many vials I had left. My fingers rolled over a couple of them, and I knew that I couldn"t use them unless my life was in immediate danger. For a second, I thought maybe I could climb the trees that stood silently in the distance and hide there, but I didn't have energy left to make the crazy dash across a football field of open space.

Abranch cracking from a heavy weight was too loud in the silence of the night. The Guardians weren"t even worried if I could hear them, they were coming for me and they wanted me to know it. I could hear their snickering and chuckles mocking me for running away like a scared little mouse with my heart in my throat. I fisted my hands, determined to pushback the fear so that I could think straight and come out of the situation without relying on Dominic or Brooklyn to save me.

"You can do this, Alice." I hissed at myself under my breath.

The scream of a Guardian flying off the roof, and the sickening pump when the body hit the ground, gave me some much-needed courage. I was not Alice the human. I was Alice, friend of Brooklyn, the vampire, as much as she hated me calling her that, and friend of Dominic, the shifter, I was part of the supernatural world and I"ll be damned if I allow anyone to take that away from me. They can laugh and say that I am imagining things and I"m living in fairytales, but I knew better. Being in this world was my destiny.

Now was my chance to prove it.

"Hello boys." I stepped out in the open when I heard their footsteps close enough that I had no doubt I would be able to see them even without my glasses "You looking for me."

Acting all nonchalant, I folded my hands at the small of my back and cocked a hip as they watched me as if I had lost my mind. In reality, I was doing my best to bring out that red magic in my fingers and hoping they would come a little bit closer so that I can blast them with it . That was my best chance of surviving this encounter.

Another body came flying down from the roof with a loud thud.

Heart racing, I kept flicking my fingers as if the spark somehow magic at their tips. With my other hand, I reached for the potions Rowen gave me, so that I can have that as a back-up if the demon magic didn"t make an appearance.

Three Guardians stared me down no doubt thinking I have lost my mind and that they have been punished by being left to deal with a human instead of having an honorable fight with those deemed worthy. Hanging around supernatural beings made me realize that they think we are lesser, but that"s not true. They have hundreds of years to perfect their lives. We have 50 years if we are lucky.

Me?

I have 35 the way things have been going.

The Guardian right in front of me smiled wide, and menacing. I could tell when he was ready to attack. Closing my eyes and praying that it would work, I flung my hands out in front of me and screamed from the top of my lungs.

Magic burst from my palms, exploding him into pieces. It spread like a spiderweb from the dead Guardian into the other two, making them burst and popping them like grapes, as well. Blood and body parts rained down on me, like in some horror movie. All I could do was blink and hold my breath until it was over. It lasted but a second, and everything went still.

"Holy shit." I giggled hysterically.