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She glanced down at it and shrugged. “Yeah, unless it turns out to be poisoned. I’ve been hurt so many times that I feel like I’m constantly wearing a big red bul ’s-eye on my back. Let me try a blast of Moon magic.”
“Shit, just don’t backfire. We don’t want to spread too far apart here.”
With a nod, she raised her hands and closed her eyes, focusing. I surreptitiously stepped to the side. Although the death magic she performed with Morio usual y went right, her Moon Mother magic stil backfired a good share of the time. One backlash was al it took.
As she summoned her power, one of the shadow men suddenly let loose and raced for me. I raised my arm to block his high kick and was surprised when he slammed into me hard enough to knock me off my feet.
“They’re tough!” I somersaulted backward, rol ing easily to my feet. As I came up in a crouch, the shadow closed in on me, and I could hear a faint snarl on the wind. It slashed out with one darkened hand and hit me in the gut, a razor-sharp slice cutting me deep above the bel y button. I jumped back and it kept on going, tumbling over itself as I threw it off balance.
As it went down, I decided to see just how corporeal it was and stomped on its back, landing dead center. My boot met solid flesh. “These things have to take form to attack us!” I jumped on its back with both feet, landing as hard as I could. The creature let out a huff and flattened to the floor.
Then, before I could do anything, it vanished.
Camil e held out her hands toward four of them that were congregating around her. “Eat this, suckers!”
Maybe not the most elegant of spel s, but a bril iant flash came forking from her fingers, the lightning striking al four, branching out in the cavern with a concussion that shook the wal s and floor. The creatures vanished, sizzling.
Morio raced forward and two of the shadow men engaged him. They swiped at him and blood trickled down his side. He caught them in his massive hands and the next thing I knew, they were howling and trying to get away, but he began to squeeze the shadows together and their screaming grew louder. There was a loud slurping sound and they vanished like bubbles popping.
Stepping out in front of us, Vanzir held out his hands. “Let’s see if these motherfuckers have anything to feed on.” He closed his eyes, and pale snakelike tentacles emerged from his palms to barb themselves into the shadow men. Vanzir could feed on life energy. If these creatures had any form of life.
It occurred to me that whatever spel Morio had cast was al owing us to see into the astral—
which made sense if we could see the auras of our enemies. Vanzir’s tentacles weren’t visible in the physical realm.
Vanzir let out a throaty laugh, reveling in his hold on the creatures. In a way, I felt sorry for him.
He had tried to walk away from his nature but we had forced him back into it, the same as Karvanak—his previous owner—had. But at least we were fighting the bad guys.
As his head dropped back, a look of pure lust stole over his face and he opened his eyes. Like pinwheels, unfathomable colors flickered through Vanzir’s eyes. His gaze was scintil ating.
Camil e stared at him, mesmerized, and started forward.
“Get away,” he said hoarsely, motioning her back. “I can’t control myself when I feed, even if my life depends on it. If I didn’t snag you in with my feeders, I’d end up tearing your clothes off and fucking you raw.”
Camil e shook her head, blinking, as Morio yanked her out of the way.
I turned at a scuffling noise behind me and saw Chase wrestling with one of the shadow creatures. I poised myself to leap on it and help him when he let out a shout and the thing rebounded back. I couldn’t see what he’d done to it, but the thing went poof and vanished.
“Are you okay?” I ran to his side and yanked him to his feet as he raised his hand for help.
“Yeah, I think so.” Chase dusted off his suit and nodded toward Vanzir. “He’s got the last of them, it looks like.”
“Yeah, he does. I think.”
Just then, Vanzir drained the shadow men dry, and they vanished. Panting, he turned around to stare hungrily at Camil e, and she took a step back. He stepped forward, then stopped himself.
“Don’t ever get near me again when I’m feeding.” He gave her a stark look. “You have too much life energy and stand out like a lol ipop in the middle of a bunch of broccoli. I don’t think I could help myself.”
Morio let out a low growl, but Camil e put her hand on his arm. “Stop. He can’t help it—it’s his nature.” She nodded at Vanzir. “Understood. I’l try to keep my distance when we’re in a fight.”
He gave her a bleak smile. “Babe, you’d better.”
“Now what?” Chase asked.
“I think the question should be, what did you do to that creature?” I stared at him. “You couldn’t just knock it out with a punch to the kisser.”
Chase looked at me, bewildered. “I don’t know, to be honest. I just . . . I reached out and pushed.
