Page 59 of Last Call at the Doghouse

They all stopped when there was ten feet or so between them, as if preparing for a standoff in the middle of the street.

“You don’t have to do this, Armi,” Sonny said. “Just… leave. Go back to your bar and have a stiff drink. I’ll do my best to keep the darkness away from you for as long as I can.”

“You sweet-talker,” she said with a tight smile. She’d accepted what was coming; it was her reason for being on the planet.

Sonny pulled a long, ornate dagger from beneath his suit jacket. The weapon suited him. Sharp. Deadly. Unnecessarily fancified. “I’ll stop you if I have to.”

From behind her a woman’s voice rang out. “Will you stop all of us?”

Armi looked over her shoulder. Every woman in town stood behind her. Most had streaks in their hair, but not all. She recognized some Non-Springers in the mix. The librarian. The hairdresser. Cousin Mike’s wife.

She had an army after all.

Sonny looked lost for a moment. He’d expected to confront her, maybe even Mitch, but he hadn’t bargained on taking down an entire town.

In what looked to be a panic, he lifted the dagger and sent it flying. It happened fast, but at the same time everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Mitch was about to jump in front of her, but she stopped him with a word and a step toward danger, placing herself in front of him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Silas’s bloodhound Judge racing forward.

In a smooth and instinctive motion she caught the dagger in the air, her palm finding the fancy grip as if it had been made just for this. Without thinking, she gave the blade a spin and sent it flying back toward Sonny.

He had no idea what she was capable of; he wasn’t prepared for her quick reflexes. The blade of his own dagger caught him high in his thigh.

The coward screamed in anger and in pain, but he remained standing. He cursed Armi, the town, the woman at his side, who’d done nothing wrong. Then he yanked the bloody dagger from his thigh and handed it to Mary, before pressing a hand to his wound to staunch the bleeding.

Mary surprised her by taking the dagger without hesitation.

Judge surprised them all by lunging and taking the wounded man down. Once Sonny was on his back the bloodhound leaned in, nose to the wizard’s chest, and made sure he stayed right where he was.

“Get this mutt off of me!” Sonny hissed.

Judge answered with a low growl.

It was painful, but Armi met Mary’s eyes. “You don’t have to be with him. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. He’s evil and you know that. He poisoned you…”

“He saved me,” Mary responded. She grasped and repositioned the dagger, looked at the bloody blade, wiped the blood onto her white shirt. “Armi, I love him so much it hurts.”

“Love isn’t supposed to hurt.”

“I like the hurt as well as the pleasure. It’s become a part of me.” Tears filled Mary’s eyes as she gripped the weapon in her hand harder than before. “I can’t live without Sonny, I don’t want to live without him. This is what he needs. It’s my gift to him.”

Mary tried to shoo Judge away with a whisper and a wave of her hand, but her efforts were wasted. The bloodhound wasn’t going anywhere.

Felicity and Bria had worked their way around and approached Mary from behind. They moved with stealth, without making a sound. As far as Armi could tell, Sonny and Mary were unaware of the girls. Maybe there was too much going on around them, too much mental turmoil. That or they didn’t see the young women as a threat.

Mistake.

Felicity burst forward. Her hands were fisted tight. She swung her arms wide and opened those fists, fingers shaped like talons. Two powders, one green and one blue, drifted from her hands more slowly than was natural. With a single word those powders mingled and become a powerful potion. Colors swirled and wrapped around Mary’s head, and over her heart. Mary screamed as the powders touched her skin. She scratched and flailed, trying to force this new magic away from her.

She stopped with a jerk of her head as a red vapor lifted from her body, seeping out and away. The expression on her face was one of pain and heartbreaking realization. Instead of screaming again, she sobbed.

After the vapor dissipated, Mary fell to her knees and dropped the dagger to the street. Tears streamed down her face as she looked up at Armi. “What have I done?”

The spell Sonny had cast over Mary was gone. Hard reality came crashing down.

There was chaos all around, there was pain, terror, and uncertainty. Armi’s focus remained on Mary, who looked defeated. Heartbroken. There was so much she wanted to say.

But there was no time to hug her friend, to tell her she forgave her, to wish her a good life away from Sonny and his darkness. A strange, glittering light drifted down from the sky in sparkles and bits of light, landing on the street a good twenty feet away. People who were near the light edged back and away. Gold and yellow and green, the light grew until it formed a strange kind of spotlight. Armi knew that was her spotlight. It called to her, it damn near spoke her name. Time to go. Time to see what waited on the other side.

Mitch took her hand and held on tight. “I’m going with you if I can. I’m not going to let you do this alone.”