Chapter 20

My anger emergedas a massive pulse that smashed into the parked cars, rolling them as if caught in a tidal wave. Men screamed as they were crushed. I panicked.

Oh my god, did I just kill Cain?

As if he'd heard my silent yell, he popped into view, dusting off his coat and offering me a cocky grin. "Don't stop now!" he yelled.

I didn't understand until the first bullet whizzed past my head. Those fuckers hadn't yet learned their lesson and dared to shoot at me!

The simmering rage crested again as I stalked toward the men cowering behind the misshapen remnants of their cars. They ignored the pleading and groans of their fallen comrades as they continued to shoot, determined to take me out. Their aim proved decent, and yet they failed to kill me. My hot rage continued to fill me and radiated from my body in a thick shield that covered me head to toe, providing a buffer from the bullets. The missiles pinged against my magical shield, and I smiled.

Gonna have to do better than that, motherfuckers.

So this was what it felt like to be powerful. It boosted my confidence. I pointed at the guy peppering my shield with bullets. I clenched my hand into a fist.

The dude dropped his gun and clutched his throat. I should probably mention I'd been thinking of Darth Vader in that moment, and like that evil—but also misunderstood—bastard, I, too, could force-choke. A flick of my hand sent the man flying. My actions led to panicked yells.

"Kill her! Kill her before she kills us."

Apparently, they'd not learned the lesson to not fuck with me or my friends. How dare they! They'd been the ones to start this, but now I would end it.

Show yourselves, assholes.

I thought it hard enough that suddenly the remaining attackers appeared, floating upwards in the air, arms and legs akimbo, mouths wide in surprise, eyes even wider in shock. They dangled above the wreckage, easy pickings, but that left me with a dilemma. What to do next?

Luckily, Nova arrived at that moment. I felt more than saw her. Sensed her magic to be exact. It emerged from her in a blend of red, gold, and gray, wrapping around the floating attackers, binding them quicker than any rope.

"I've got them secured," she announced. "You can release them, Sadie."

Um, okay? How?

I startled when a hand landed on my arm, and I turned, ready to blast, only to grab tight to my power as I saw Cain. Still grinning, I might add.

"Nice trick," he complimented.

My lips twisted. "I was a little pissed."

"Only a little?" The big man smiled deep enough a dimple popped in his cheek. Damn him for being cute amidst this clusterfuck.

"Okay, a lot mad," I admitted. "They shot Mizuki and Vance."

"They'll be fine. Devika will fix them up." He pointed to the healer, who must have arrived with Nova, as she hurried for the porch where Vance stood propped against the railing. Mizuki sat, leaning against the door, a hand slapped to her bleeding arm.

Nova strode toward me, looking pleased. "Good job handling this hit team. Mind letting go, though, so we can question and get them out of here?"

"Would love to, only I'm not sure how?" I queried with a lilt.

Nova cocked her head. "Tuck your magic away."

"Again, how?" Because it pulsed in me, fueled by my adrenaline.

"Cain, distract her," Nova ordered, turning from us.

Distract—

Hands gripped and lifted me, and before I could gasp, a mouth pressed against mine in a kiss that was both hard and soft. I melted in Cain's embrace, parting my lips and sighing in pleasure.

All too quickly the kiss ended, and I wavered on my feet when he put me down.

I blinked at Cain. Aroused, confused, wanting more…

The corner of his mouth lifted. "Guess sometimes kisses do break spells."

His remark led to me glancing over and seeing the men I'd floated collapsed to the ground. Nova moved around them, magic swirling with the flick of her hand, blanketing the intruders, putting them to sleep.

"What now?" I asked, kind of hoping he'd resume the kiss.

He didn't. "Now we secure them and find out who sent them."

"Okay."

"By we, I don't mean you." Cain spun me around to face the house. "Get inside with Vance and Mizuki while I help Nova." He gave my ass a little tap to get me going.

I whipped around and gaped. "Did you just spank me?"

"Yup. Apparently, I should have done it harder since you're still standing here."

"I can't believe you just did that."

"Want me to do it again?" He winked. "Maybe later if you're good."

My tied tongue could think of no retort as he walked away. But he sure did have me thinking. Who was this playful flirt? And what did I think of having my ass slapped?

Bemused, I headed for the porch, where a grim-looking Vance awaited. Did his dark expression have to do with jealousy? His own fault. He'd been the one to urge me in Cain's direction.

Mizuki had disappeared with Devika, so I paused in front of Vance. "Shouldn't you be putting pressure on that wound?" A sluggish line of blood seeped from where he'd been shot in the leg.

"In a second. Just wanted to say you did good."

My lips twisted ruefully. "Is this where I'm not supposed to admit I have no idea what the fuck I did?"

"Guess you've got good instincts."

Guess so. "You should be inside getting patched up," I chided, snagging his arm to drag him toward the front door of the house.

"I'm fine," Vance protested.

"You have a hole in your leg," I pointed out.

"Not the first time I've been shot," he replied with a shrug.

"I don't give a damn. You are getting that looked at." I tugged, and he followed me reluctantly inside, his slight limp the most obvious sign he was not okay. Why did guys feel a need to downplay serious injury?

Mizuki sat on a kitchen stood and smiled as I entered. "Way to kick some ass!"

"Thanks." I almost blushed. "How are you doing?"

"Almost done." Mizuki indicated a somber Devika, who clutched Mizuki's wounded arm with her magical hands. I could see colored swirls floating around the limb, faint blue with a bit of gray and brown.

New skill unlocked? I'd never seen any kind of misty hues around either Devika or Nova before.

"Vance is trying to pull a macho thing and claim he's fine." I ratted him out.

Devika shot him a dark look. "Sit down and stop being a showoff for Sadie."

"I'm not showing off!" he huffed as he limped his way to a stool. "I've had worse."

"Don't care. Just takes a single infection to turn a small boo-boo into a leg amputation," Devika chided.

"Yeah, what she said," I growled as I stood, arms crossed, trying to hold in the shakes suddenly trying to take hold. The adrenaline had finally worn off, and reality set in. I'd killed people.

With magic.

How was it possible to feel good and bad about that at once?

I plopped onto a stool beside Vance and slumped.

"I still can't believe how you rolled the cars onto those attackers," Mizuki exclaimed. "That was epic."

"Try accidental," I admitted. "I got mad and boom." I exploded my hands, and only belatedly prayed I didn't break anything.

"Don't downplay what you did," Vance stated. "You saw a problem. You solved it."

"Shouldn't I at least have a slight clue as to what I did and how I did it?"

"I would say your instincts knew exactly what was needed," Devika interjected. "Do you think I learned how to heal every single injury? Each time, I have to rely on my instincts to help me knit flesh back together or solder bones."

"But I didn't even use any words or proper gestures."

"I told you that's only to help focus. Seems like you don't need those to achieve what you want," Mizuki explained.

Devika moved from my friend to Vance.

I glanced away, not because of being squeamish but because of the fact I didn't like her hands on him. Devika could have been his mother, but my jealousy didn't care.

Mizuki hopped off her stool. "I'm going to whip up some snacks."

"How can you think of food at a time like this? You were shot!" If it were me, I'd be in a tucked ball, rocking and sobbing.

"Yup. I was shot and lived and now have a cool story. But I also used a lot of magic, which makes me hungry. I'm surprised you don't have your face shoved in the fridge already gorging."

As if Mizuki's words triggered it, my stomach growled something fierce.

"Shouldn't we be helping Nova and Cain with the prisoners?" I glanced at the door.

"Cain doesn't need help getting rid of our enemies once he's got the info we need," was Vance's soft claim.

It took me a second to realize what he meant. "He's murdering them?" My shock rang out loud and shrill.

"What else would you like us to do? We don't have a prison. We can't exactly release them. Not with what they've done and know." Vance seemed on board with it and even had logic to back it up.

"Can't Nova wipe their minds?"

"She could," Mizuki agreed, only to go on to say, "but they've already succumbed to Moloch's influence once. Even if they remembered nothing, it wouldn't take much for Moloch to command them again. Next time, we might not be as lucky."

My hunger turned to nausea. "This is my fault."

"How do you figure that?" Vance asked.

"They came here to kill the reaper witch."

"You can't know that for sure," he promptly replied.

Nova entered at that moment with Cain, announcing, "The gunmen were sent by Moloch to kill Sadie."

I shot an I-told-you-so look at Vance, who shrugged and said, "So they were. But we stopped them."

"This time." My turn to sound ominous.

"I'm surprised Moloch went with humans instead of demons," Mizuki contributed as she bustled into the kitchen, pulling stuff from the fridge.

"I'm not. This entire area was warded against demons. Had one gotten close to our border, we would have known. I didn't think to spell against humans, though, even as it should have occurred to me, given his difficulties in recruiting from Inferis." Nova's lips turned down. When we all eyed her in surprise at that last tidbit, she explained. "I went to meet with Asher. He managed to activate some of the surveillance left behind in the castle. Turns out Moloch's been trying to open portals to Inferis to build his legions. However, someone on the other side keeps closing them."

"His princes are working against him?" Vance couldn't hide his surprise.

"That's nothing new." Nova reached over to grab a piece of cheese from the plate, where Mizuki placed them as quickly as she sliced them. "Moloch has been gone for centuries. In that time, the princes would have been securing and reinforcing their kingdoms. Why would they want to give up their power just because their Dark Lord has returned?"

"But the invasions…" I frowned. "You said it yourself; we're seeing unprecedented numbers of monsters coming to Earth. Aren't they here to help Moloch?"

"Maybe. Or could be Moloch isn't the only one interested in expanding his kingdom."

I pursed my lips at Nova's reply. "Meaning we don't just have Moloch to deal with but some evil princes."

"The good news is they most likely haven't aligned. The infighting works to our advantage," Nova pointed out. "If the princes are starting to hold tight to their minions, then Moloch won't be able to build an army and will have a harder time conquering Earth."

"That would be assuming Moloch doesn't keep subverting humans." Vance crushed her theory.

"If Moloch's having trouble recruiting, then we should be going after him before that changes." Cain jumped in and, no surprise, wanted to fight.

Oddly enough, I agreed with him. "Cain's right. We should hit while he's weak."

"I agree, especially since our messovenata seems to have found her mojo." Nova smiled at me. "I knew you had it in you."

I didn't mention my terror or the fact I hadn't the slightest clue what the fuck I'd done. But I did caution, "I have no idea if I'll be able to do it again, but I'm willing to try." Blame my newfound courage for volunteering. Maybe this hero thing wouldn't be so bad after all. But I did wonder… "Have you figured out a way to kill Moloch?"

Nova shook her head. "No, and so I believe our best option is to imprison him again. I've been looking into the creation of portals to other dimensions. If I can open one, we just need to shove him inside and close it."

"Wouldn't he just reopen it?" I queried.

"That's the problem with the plan," she admitted. "I don't know how the witches locked him in the first time or how they ensured he couldn't just waltz right back out."

Given it took my blood to free him, I had a sneaky suspicion what that lock would take. Back in the day, people tended to be gung-ho about sacrifice. Would I be willing to give my life to lock pure evil away for centuries and save humankind? I'd like to say I wasn't selfish. But I wanted to live. There had to be a way to save the world that didn't cost my life.