Leo stands, hose in hand, feet planted, water roaring across the asphalt in a hard, glittering arc that makes the whole lot shine like it has been freshly baptized in the prismatic brilliance of The Plain. He looks furious in a way Grayson rarely sees. A mate with something to protect.
“I. Said. Drop. The. Gun,” Grayson growls, pressing the tip in just enough that a drop of red forms and freezes on her throat as she swallows against the ice.
The gun lowers, dropping to the wet asphalt with a clatter.
“You’re making a mistake,” she rasps out, eyes flicking from side to side. “You are meant to serve. You are the One.”
It’s the second time Grayson has heard that, and this time he’s sure as fuck going to ask questions.
“The One?”
“We have been searching for the One. Powerful in The Plain, with access to all that entails. But, most importantly, in Time. You are the One.”
Leo turns the water off, staying well back but close enough to say, “That sounds like another prophecy.”
The woman’s jaw clenches as if something is holding her words back. Thanks to Kirwan’s foci, Grayson knows just how that feels.
“Listen, lady. You’re insane. I’m just me. Nothing special. I’m not going with you anywhere.” Grayson rolls his eyes. “I’m Werefirstand magicsecond.”
The woman presses against the staff when she hears the words. Her face crumples with disgust. It seems prejudice in the magic community isn’t as uncommon as one could hope.
“You will join us or—” she snarls, lips pulling back in a fiendish expression.
“Why do you need Grayson to go with you?” Leo asks again.
A sliver of triumph flashes over her face before it’s gone. The zealous fervor replacing her frustration as if it had never been.
“He is the One. Powerful in The Plain and with access to all that entails,” she repeats. “He will train at the Academy under the high-mistress to change the course of—” Her voice cuts off, surprise flashing in her eyes.
She begins to scream. The same spider brand under her shirt begins to glow and smoke. The scent of burning flesh is even stronger without the insulation of Grayson’s Traveling.
Grayson pulls back the staff so she doesn’t inadvertently impale herself. He lets Jay pull him out of the way as she falls to the ground, writhing in agony.
“He is the One! He is the One,” she shrieks before she passes out, and the spider eventually fades. The T-shirt is ruined, but her pale skin is once again unmarred.
“Holy shit,” Leo whispers. He looks green, and Grayson can’t blame him. It’s no easier to watch the second time around.
“Hey, Jamie? Big and Stupid Take Two is waking up! Do we want to hold on to him until Gideon gets here or…?” Nix hollers over the cursing magic user shouting at him from the hood of the car. He is trying to use Fire and Air to get Nix to take his foot off his neck. But the flames bursting from his hands are snuffed out before it even leaves his fingertips. Nix’s immunity makes him so angry that he looks like he might melt the front of the vehicle.
Sure enough, the henchman that Jay had beaten into submission is staggering to the driver’s side of the SUV.
“Clear out, Nix!” Leo shouts.
“You sure? We could keep one just to send a message?” He back flips off the hood and stands, immovable, in the henchman’s way.
Slender arms crossed, Grayson can see his blue eyes flash, long fangs bared in a challenge that makes the henchman flinch.
The woman groans from the ground in front of them, and Grayson considers for a moment sending that message. He knows from a hundred-year-old memory that his staff could leave her with a wound that would never heal. The opposite of Healing, the ice and fire would burn like agony for the rest of her life.
“Gray?” Nix is by his side as the SUV lies on the horn. Both men are inside once again, invisible behind the tinted windows. “Are we keeping this one?”
“No,” he says. “I won’t sink to their level.”
He sees that the woman hadn’t been sure of his mercy, and that scares him more than he’d like to admit.
“Go. Tell them I’m not who they’re looking for.”
“See you soon, Pearce,” the woman hisses. She escapes to the SUV, looking back with a grin that could only be called evil. Then she’s slamming the door behind her.
