than me. You think you’re the only one who knows secrets? Tell me, how’s your brother doing? Did you make good on your word?”
In the very next second, I immediately regret that because I’m flying backwards, smashing through trees, and desperately trying to catch a breath as the pain consumes me. Dad always said to watch my smart mouth if I wasn’t ready to fight.
Crying out, I push his force away from me, even though it’s so damn hard.
“Ought not talk about things you don’t know anything about, little wolf,” he drawls, not sounding anywhere nearly as furious as his outburst proves he is.
“That works both ways,” I say through painful strain, struggling to stand back up.
“You know, immortal doesn’t mean impossible to kill, regardless of what the humans seem to think.”
With one final push, I shove his power back enough to throw up my shield, even though I know I can’t hold it up for very long. It’ll have to be long enough.
“So you bully your way through the immortal world, thinking you really are a god just because of your fey classification?”
Before he can answer, I throw out my own attack, slicing through my shield and smirking when his eyes widen in surprise. He’s knocked backward, feet over head, but my damage is minimal in comparison to his.
To a normal fey, I’d have almost killed them with that hit.
But I don’t need power; I have quantity.
Blue streaks chase me, but they crash into my shield, cracking it. Shit.
One after another, I throw silver streaks of power, lashing out as quickly as I can. But the agile bastard keeps dodging all of them, moving toward me until he’s suddenly slamming into my invisible shield, breaking through it as though it’s not even there.
I don’t even have time to gasp before a hand is clamped around my throat, and I’m being shoved against a tree with my feet dangling off the ground. Shuddering, I look down into the murderous night stalker blue eyes that are full of resolve.
“Killing you with magic just wouldn’t be as much fun as choking the life out of you with my hands.”
The power hums harder, fighting off the stupid trick he’s trying to use.
“You know that nifty paralysis thing night stalkers can do to witches?” I say through strain, half choking, but then I feel the spark of energy racing through my veins, feeding me, begging to be released. “Doesn’t work on me.”
His eyes widen seconds before I push forth silver balls of power, and it slams into his chest, sending him sailing backwards and crashing through more of the forest as we leave chaos in our wake.
Landing on my hands and knees as I choke on air, I stare at him, watching him, waiting for him to make his next move. I’ve always done better on defense. But before he can strike, the hair on my body stands to attention.
I’ve tasted their blood. They’re coming. They’re coming now.
Their presence washes over me with a sickening feeling, and I spin just in time to catch a blood starved night stalker as he launches himself at me. My hand grips his throat, and with a quick twist, I snap his neck.
But there are so many more.
Slade’s litany of curses sound in the air, and I spin to see him fighting off three at once. Deciding to cheat, since he has the advantage normally, I release one hell of an energy ball, sending it sailing at his back.
At the last second, he spins, and the ball crashes into one of the mindless beasts, disintegrating it. Slade risks a glare at me, only dividing his attention from the swarm of deadly killers for a second, before shredding ten at once with one, blindingly blue burst of power that I have to shield against.
They’re everywhere. Coming in from all angles. But our fight isn’t finished, so we keep thinning the herd so we can resume.
I’ll die before letting him near Thad again, and Slade’s thirst for vengeance will have him chasing me.
Slade grabs my hand, helping me leap over one set of them, and I slice through the air, spinning and tossing out power to wipe out at least five. Their screams fill the night, dredging up memories better left buried. But I force them down, keeping my mind focused on now instead of the past.
Slade disappears, but reappears behind me, putting his back to mine as we take on the hoards.
“How fucking many are there?” he growls.
“They’re turning others,” I tell him, pushing more silver orbs out, killing anything in the path.