Midnight Beauties (Grim Lovelies 2)

She threw out a blast of energy from her palms. Two shelves of designer jeans fell on him. He roared as the metal shelving unit smashed against his skull. Pant legs tangled around him, and he struggled to extract himself from the mess. Anouk stepped closer with a spell on her lips to summon wind. “Zefyr traga . . .”

He was clutching his head, but he managed to throw a purse at her before she got the final words out. Its long strap hooked onto her wrist like a lasso, an

d with a sharp tug, he pulled her over. Before she could scramble back up, he was on top of her. His eyes were threaded with black. Smoke curled from his nostrils. Blood from the cuts on his hands dripped onto her cheek.

He pulled back and aimed a punch at her head. She blocked it with a shield spell, and his hand glided off into air, but he was an assassin trained by Mada Vittora. He’d killed Royals, Goblins, even other witches. If there was one thing he knew how to fight against, it was magic.

He curled his hand in the back of her hair, a blade glimmering in his other palm. He was going to slice her throat—?she’d seen him do it before. It was a highly effective move—?if it didn’t kill a witch outright, it at least kept her from whispering spells.

Pulse racing, she cast out Cricket’s stealing spell but used the word referring to objects. “Ut vol pas rein ut deux!”

The spell summoned a crystal-studded clutch she’d seen in the handbag department. It materialized in her hand and she threw it in front of his knife; the purse hit it with a shower of sparks, breaking off the blade from the hilt. He gave a hollow grunt as he dived for the broken blade. Anouk pitched forward, pushing herself up to all fours. Her hair was wild in her face; she shoved it back.

She turned to Hunter Black, swallowed a pinch of feathers, and whispered the stealing spell on him, using the word that referred to people.

“Ut vol fer rein ut deux!”

Hunter Black vanished. He was simply there one moment and gone the next, disappearing with only the slightest flicker of surprise on his face. Even using the wording variation that Rennar had described, it wasn’t as easy to transfer a person as it was a purse. The farthest she could cast him was one floor down—?but it was far enough. Anouk rolled back and lay on the floor, breathing hard.

Dieu, had it really worked?

She listened for Hunter Black’s heavy footsteps racing back toward her, but there was nothing. She was alone amid the mess of handbags. She took a second to wipe his blood from her cheek. She checked her stash of owl feathers and other life-essences—?dwindling, but if she rationed it, it should last.

Someone screamed on the ground floor, followed by a curse, then another scream. She groaned. Just once couldn’t she savor a victory?

She shoved herself up and ran through the Accessories department to the balcony.

“Cricket?” she yelled, leaning over the rail.

“Here!”

It had come from the Baked Goods section of the ground floor. Anouk scanned the tables full of treats until she saw a scuffle by the front doors. She’d expected Cricket to be fighting Hunter Black, but to her shock, Cricket was in hand-to-hand combat with someone else.

A Goblin in roller skates.

Chapter 44

“D ecember?”

Anouk could scarcely believe her eyes. December was hurling herself at Cricket, casting vicious cutting spells that sliced at Cricket’s arms; in return, Cricket threw out a spell to make the Goblin’s wheels stop. December slammed to the floor abruptly, but then immediately pushed herself up to her knees and started crawling toward Cricket. She moved so fast, so stiffly. Cricket leaped onto a table to get away, not wanting to hurt someone who, until seconds ago, had been an ally.

Cricket called up to Anouk, “Uh, you said a button possessed Hunter Black, right? A glass button?”

“That’s right.”

“He came charging through here a moment ago. I thought he was going to try to kill me. But he just thrust a button in December’s pocket. She turned into . . . into this demon on wheels.” December was snarling out tricks in the Selentium Vox to burn Cricket. “I could use a little help!”

Anouk clutched the railing. Her mind went between the ground floor and the top one. Hunter Black had to have known that she’d rush to Cricket’s aid, giving him a clear shot to the fifth floor to kill Beau.

Did she help Cricket or did she save Beau?

She closed her eyes briefly.

“Petra!” she called.

In another moment, the Ash Witch appeared on the fourth floor and leaned over the railing. “What? Make it fast, I’m right on Hunter Black’s tail!”

“Forget him!” Anouk pointed to the ground floor. “Help Cricket.”