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If I’m in the SUV, I can’t see her coming at me. I don’t want to end up like Byron.
Byron was stationary. You wouldn’t be.
I’m not sure it’ll make any difference. I scanned the area again, uncertain what to do, one part of me seeing the sense of Belle’s suggestion while another warned it would be the worst possible step.
The decision was taken out of my hands.
Power surged, sparking across the night, its feel so fierce it sprayed across my skin like liquid fire. Light appeared—it was a churning mass of heat that shot through the trees and left a trail of flaming destruction behind it. It wasn’t Empusae in origin. It was witch.
Vita.
The bitch was definitely using me as bait.
And her mass of burning destruction was headed straight for the SUV.
I swore and ran like hell.
I wasn’t fast enough. I was never going to be fast enough.
The fiery ball hit and the vehicle exploded. Heat, flames, bits of plastic and metal and God only knows what else cannoned into the air. The force of it was so strong it sent me flying. I threw out my hands, skinning them along the stony road as I tried to break my fall and protect my face. If it hurt, I didn’t feel it. I stopped sliding and twisted around; saw the remnants of the SUV on fire. Saw the naked, furious form coming straight at me.
Terror surged. I clamped down on it, scrambled to my feet, and threw the spell still entangled around my fingers. She saw it and dodged, but I flicked a hand and the spell arced around and came at her again. Magic surged, this time to my left. A twisting mass of fiery, angry-looking threads shot out of the trees—and once again, its source was Vita.
The Empusae leaped skyward, her form once again shifting from human to owl. Vita’s energy didn’t follow; instead, it collided with my repel spell and a second explosion occurred, one that sprayed energy and spell remnants across the nearby ground.
A scream rent the air. My gaze jumped up. All I saw was talons. Sharp, gleaming talons, coming straight at my face. I flung a hand
up instinctively and the firefly energy that had been dancing across my fingertips formed a thick lance that arrowed directly at the demon. She screamed, dropped away sharply, and then came in under the lance for another attack. More energy surged across my fingertips, its force fainter. I flung it anyway, even as I began another spell that was a combination of a repelling spell and an energy whip. Then I turned and ran into the trees.
Remaining on the road, in plain sight, with multiple directions from which she could attack me, was stupid. I might in reality be no safer in the trees, but they did at least restrict the speed with which she could attack.
An incoming sense of doom hit. I slid to a stop, spun around, and cracked my whip toward her. She squawked and tipped to one side, but her descent barely altered in speed. I swore and dropped. Felt air rake my back, an indication of just how close her claws had come.
I thrust to my feet and lunged to the left, into the deeper undergrowth. Heard her scream, felt the wind of another approach. Lashed my whip around my head even as I ran on, crashing through the scrub, tearing clothes and skin in my desperation to escape.
A third swoop. I swore and dropped low. Felt her claws snag my hair and rip a chunk free. I bellowed and flicked the whip after her. Its end caught her tail and she squawked as feather remnants rained down.
It didn’t stop her. Even as I watched, she curved around and arrowed toward me, low and fast.
I once again pushed to my feet and ran on. Felt the surge of Vita’s magic to my right; saw, out of the corner of my eye, the flare of an incoming sphere. It didn’t hold the fierceness of her original bolt, and I could only hope that it would be strong enough to kill.
If it hit, that was. She didn’t appear to have the ability to alter the trajectory of her spell after it had been launched
Which meant I had to hold the Empusae’s attention, and the only hope of ensuring that was for me to allow her to get closer.
My skin crawled at the thought. I gripped my whip fiercely, but fought the need to use it, fought the desire to spin around and slash the thing across her face, to scar her as she’d scarred me. But the whip wasn’t designed to kill, and that was what mattered most right now. The bait had no choice but to run on.
At the very last minute, the Empusae must have sensed Vita’s sphere, because she flung herself skyward. This time, she wasn’t fast enough. The sphere hit and exploded, and the feathered fury was sent tumbling back into the darkness.
I skidded to a halt, my breath a harsh rasp that echoed across the night, and my heart a rapid-fire gun pulsing high in my throat. For several minutes, I simply stood there, scanning the nearby trees, every sense—human and psychic—searching for some sign of the demon. Vita stirred to my left, her force faint and filled with uncertainty. If she wasn’t sure if she’d killed her quarry, then it was doubtful we had.
I bit my lip and continued to scan the area, hoping against hope that I was wrong, that the elder was dead and that we didn’t have to worry about her anymore.
The soft breeze stirred, teasing my nostrils with the scent of blood and ash combined.
Then there was movement.
It was little more than a flicker—a flash of gold against the shadows of the night—but it was enough. The Empusae was injured but not dead.
