He slammed on the brakes. As the Ford came to a shuddering, sliding halt, I threw open the door and scrambled out. The energy was fading fast but its remnants led me left, toward the rear of the cemetery.
I raced through the gravestones, every sense on high alert. Just because the main spell had reached completion didn’t mean there weren’t others here—especially if our caster was aware his plan to wipe me out had failed.
Candlelight flickered through the trees ahead, a faint glow that did little to break the darkness or lift the unease coursing through me. The magic might have faded, but the sense of wrongness was still very much present—one that was now accompanied by a weird sort of anger. It was an emotion that seemed to be coming from the night itself.
I cut through the strand of trees and ran on. Magic stirred anew, but its touch wasn’t dark. It was fresh, light, and powerful—wild magic. It was here, in this cemetery, and full of the anger I’d sensed only moments before. It curled around me, urging me on—something I had no idea a non-sentient force could do.
I caught sight of two figures up ahead—one tall and broad of shoulder, the other hunched and cloaked.
Energy surged, and a sphere of what looked like a boiling mass of blood began to form above the two men. The taller of the two made a throwing motion and, as the red mass hurtled toward us, picked up the cloaked figure and ran in the opposite direction. I threw up a hand and started casting a diversion spell. The wild magic gathered around me, weaving itself into the spell and creating a force far greater than I’d intended.
A second sphere formed at the end of my fingertips—it was bright, white, and as deadly looking as its counterpart. It wasn’t what I wanted, and I had no idea what it might do, but it was all I had. I flung it at the darker mass flaming toward us, then spun and threw myself at Aiden.
This time, he had no chance to catch his balance, nor did I want him to. He caught me with a grunt and we crashed to the ground as one.
“What the fuck—” he said, the words little more than a wheeze.
“He just threw something at us.” I slipped to one side and twisted around. The two spheres continued to arrow towards each other, and the air burned with their joint fury.
“What the hell are those things?”
“Ethereal fires,” I said. “Dark and light.”
The two of them hit and halted, the white merging into the red and disappearing. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. The merged spheres simply hovered above the ground, pulsing and heaving as each spell fought for control over the other, creating a field that rippled out in ever-tightening circles. It was accompanied by a whine that reminded me of an engine being pushed too hard and too fast.
There was only way this could end.
“Cover your eyes,” I said, and buried my face into Aiden’s side, breathing in his warm, rich scent to counter the bitter fury of the pulsing spheres.
With an almighty roar, the spheres blew apart.
Even though I had my eyes squeezed shut, I was nevertheless aware of the fiery heat that sprayed across the night, and of the wild magic chasing and consuming those droplets. None of them hit us, but the ground sizzled and the stench of burned grass touched the air.
Lizzie? Belle’s mental tone was concerned. Is everything all right? I just felt an almighty rush of power—
It was a spell, but not one specifically aimed at me. Which technically wasn’t a lie because it had also been aimed at Aiden. I’ve dealt with it, so there’s nothing to worry about. Get back to enjoying your lovely werewolf, and keep those mental shutters down!
A statement that fills me with suspicion.
I promise, there’s nothing to worry about. Not now, anyway. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow morning.
If I find out you’re holding out, I’ll be pissed.
And I’ll be pissed if you don’t shut the hell up and get back to enjoying yourself.
Her laughter ran down the mental lines. Fine. I’m gone.
The slight buzz that was the connection between us shut down again. Around me, silence had again fallen and the sense of danger slipped away. I carefully lifted my head. The night was empty of any sort of magic, wild or dark, but we were completely surrounded by thick patches of burned grass. The wild magic had saved us, by both enhancing my spell and then protecting us from the fallout.
That scared me, almost as much as the power the vampire could so readily call into being.
I wasn’t the local witch. I wasn’t even a vetted witch. The wild magic shouldn’t have even recognized my presence, especially when I had yet to enter the wellspring to commune with it.
But it wasn’t just that—it was also the anger I’d sensed within it. I’d always believed wild magic wasn’t sentient, but if that were true, how in the hell could it have been angry?
Was Belle right? Did the wild magic not only hold some form of awareness, but was it also the reason I’d felt compelled to come here?
But that raised yet another question—why me? If the magic within this reservation were capable of calling a witch to it, why wouldn’t it have called to someone far more capable?