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His magic strikes Max, and he goes flying.
I shoot my silver magic toward the mage, but it hits something invisible in front of him. Something that turns black when my magic hits it, then grows translucent again.
My stomach twists. Braxton leaps out the man again, hits the invisible wall, and is thrown back. A whimper slips from him when he hits the ground. He tries to stand, but falls.
Orson sniffs the air, circling the man, a growl rolling from his throat. He tries to attack the man from behind, but he hits the invisible wall of dark magic, more gently than Braxton, and is thrown back into the wall. He rises to his feet on shaky legs, and a low growl rolls from his throat.
The mage lifts a hand to Orson.
“Wait!” I shout. The man regards me with complete and utter arrogance. “Brently Cox, it’s over. There’s more of us than you. This is your chance to escape unharmed.” I try not to let my voice waver. I try not to show him that I’m afraid he might beat us, but he can see right through me.
He smiles. “You have no idea who I am, do you?” His gaze flicks to my brother, and I step in front of Simon, a chill rolling down my spine. “I am the man who learned how to harness dark energy and turn it into something useful. Blood Mages used to be nothing, weak warlocks with useless powers, until I bound dark magic. Then, not only did I make myself and my fellow Blood Mages powerful, I made all of you.”
“Thanks,” I tell him. My voice drips with venom.
He laughs, seemingly unaware of just how much I hate him. “How was I to know how weak of spirit all of you are? How incapable you are of ignoring the whispers of the dark magic? We Blood Mages have our ways of keeping control over it, but you could not be taught, no matter how hard we tried. It was then that we realized you were good for little more than amusement. So many of our other toys died quickly when we played too roughly, but not you. No, your kind could handle just about anything.” His gaze met Simon’s. “You could handle anything. No matter how much I hurt you, you survived.”
“Is the problem your tiny dick?” I ask.
He jerks and looks at me. “What?”
I take a step forward. “Is this some tiny dick issue? Where your itty bitty worm made you feel so bad about yourself that you have to hurt others to feel better?”
Rage flashes across his face. “I’m not even going to kill you. I’m going to spend my lifetime playing with you.”
“That’s the difference between you and I. I am going to kill you,” I say, my words low and dangerous. Then, keeping the mage in sight, I whisper to Simon, “Get behind the big black orb.”
“I’m not going to leave you–”
“I can’t do what I need to do with you out in the open. Take your shots from the shadows.”
To my surprise, he limps over and ducks down. Max and Braxton have risen to their feet, but they look wounded. I have to try not to think about what bones might be bruised or broken, because my gaze is set on the man in front of me. A man I will use dark magic on, if I have to. If it’s not enough.
A ball of black energy comes shooting at me from his hand. I leap out of the way, and it crashes into the brick wall behind me, leaving a hole in its wake. Before I can strike back, another one comes flying at me. I have to roll across the floor to avoid it, but then there’s another hole in the wall. Dust rises. I cough on it, but I’m on my feet again.
Gathering my magic, my hand glows silver, and I attack. It hits his invisible wall, and I feel my magic worming its way in. Silver light flows from me to him, and his shocked expression is brightened by my magic.
“How did you do that? That’s not dark magic. What the hell is that?”
I’m slicing through his shield. I’ll reach him soon. But he doesn’t seem to notice. Nor does he care that my men are circling him. His gaze is fixed on me.
“They said beyond the darkness, somewhere through the orb, was a different kind of magic. A more powerful magic. Where did you find it?”
I’m trying not to let his words distract me too much from what I’m doing, but I say, “You’ll never know. Someone like you isn’t capable of it.”
His face hardens. “I’m going to capture you, and I’m going to figure it out. No matter how many torturous years it takes.”
I feel my magic slice through the shield, but he’s lifted his arm to block it. My magic flows into the darkness that covers his palm like sickly shadows. I press harder, pushing my magic into him, but he seems to keep it at bay with ease.
“How do you do that?” Simon asks, from where he’s crouched. “That magic doesn’t feel like the sick stuff they created inside of us.”
Sweat beads my forehead. “You think of goodness and light. You think of your family and your pack. You think about the moments of your life that you cherish, that bring a smile to your lips. And you think about protecting all of that, not killing.”
As I speak, my magic grows brighter and brighter, and I see fear in the Blood Mages eyes for the first time. He attacks. Balls of shadows flying toward me. I use my free hand to explode them with my light. Dark ribbons flutter to the floor and vanish.
Already, I’m breathing hard.
It’s not that I’m more powerful than him. It’s more that we’re evenly matched, but that he’s playing a game with fewer rules. I have people in the room to protect. I don’t want to give into the dark magic, if I don’t have to. This man is willing to do whatever it takes to win.
