What the hell was he going on about? “Again, what cause?”
He leaned forward, the hand with the wand stiff at his side. “I think you know. Your work got the attention of leadership. We aren’t your enemies.”
Ah, the dark mage faction. “Well, you sure as hell aren’t my friends either.”
He smiled. “Maybe I could come in and tell you a little more about what we want. We aren’t the bad guys, despite what your leadership tells you.”
I rolled my shoulders back. “Man, it’s almost midnight. I’m not letting in some stalker who comes at me with a wand into my place. If we are friends, then why is your weapon out?”
He looked down at his wand as if just now realizing it was there. “Because I know what you can do with just the snap of your fingers.”
Fair enough. “Well, I won’t attack you if you don’t attack me.” I gave him the sweetest of smiles. “But let me save you some time. No matter what you say, I am not joining your faction. I don’t like your tactics. You’ve hurt a lot of innocent people, and I don’t stand behind that. Now, if you don’t leave me the hell alone, I will turn you into an ice statue.”
He dropped his shoulders. “That’s disappointing. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to fight.”
Before I could blink, he pointed his wand at me, and a bolt of lightning shot my way. I jumped to the side, but my right arm was grazed, and the searing heat of pain penetrated through my coat to my skin. “This was my good coat!” I yelled while pushing my hands out and sending a ray of ice bullets at him.
He lifted his wand, and the bullets bounced off an invisible wall in front of him. A ward. Good for him, but if he wanted to attack me again, he was going to have to drop it. I wasn’t going to go inside until I took care of this guy because I didn’t want to have him hanging over my shoulders.
I rushed down the steps and stopped several feet in front of him. Raising my hands, I pushed against the ward, spreading a layer of ice over it. I would crack it down. I wasn’t sure it would work. It really all depended on how strong his warding ability was. However, I’d been practicing with my magic since I was a kid. I wasn’t a weakling. Not physically or magically. I actually prided myself on how strong my ice magic was compared to anyone else.
I wanted to see the fear in his eyes as I pounded against the ward, but those damn sunglasses were still on.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I have to bring you back to my leaders!” he shouted.
“Tell your leaders they can suck it. I’m not going anywhere. So, you see, we’re at an impasse. You have orders not to kill me. But I am free to kill you. Doesn’t sound good for you, playa.”
I heard a door open behind me but didn’t turn. “Everything okay out there?” came the voice of my older neighbor.
“It most certainly isn’t, Mrs. Wallace. Please call the cops,” I replied through gritted teeth.
“Already done.”
“Okay, great, go inside and lock your doors. I got this.”
Mrs. Wallace knew I was a mage and wasted no time in following my orders. Usually, her nosiness got on my nerves, but tonight, I was thankful she stuck her head out. At least I would have a witness if something should happen.
Cracks in the ward began to appear over the now icy layer like an unstable ice pond. It would be slow, but maybe I could take down his ward. I wasn’t a killer by nature, but I wasn’t going to let this guy come after me again.
He began to laugh like a crazy man. “Oh, this is too wonderful. We can’t lose you.”
Okay, so I guess he wasn’t concerned about me breaking through and kicking his ass. How rude.
He raised his wand toward the night sky, and I looked up to see what looked like swirling bright clouds in the black sky. They moved like a tornado, faster and faster.
“What the hell?” I cried. My hair lifted from my face, my skirt fluttering up, showcasing my lacy black undies.
This couldn’t be good. I had to get through this ward and stop this asshole. I pushed further into the ward with my magic, ignoring the peepshow I was giving to the neighborhood. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.
Finally, the ward shattered to the ground like shards of glass. I wasted no time and punched out an ice-covered fist at the man. He blocked my punch with his arm. That was a mistake. All I needed was the contact, and his forearm immediately froze, ice spreading to his hand and elbow. I punched again, and his frozen arm cracked, crumbling to the ground.
The man let out a piercing scream before stumbling backwards into the street and away from me. However, he didn’t lower his wand-holding hand, and the tornado of wind above us wasn’t slowing down. It was moving so fast that I fell backwards on my ass, hard. That might leave a scrape.
“What is that?” I shouted, struggling to get to my feet. The wind pushed against me like a wind tunnel, and I felt my breath shorten.
The man shook his head slowly, muttering words in a language I did not understand. He was now ignoring his torn-up arm; no blood fell from the frozen stump, but he had to be in pain. Maybe he was mumbling a healing spell.
Screw it, I wasn’t going to wait around for this fool to give me answers. I wasn’t too keen on killing anyone, but I was hoping the authorities would understand, especially with my nosey neighbors spying.
