The Seven Kings of Jinn

The ghulah’s eyes narrowed, the blood dripping out of her mashed nostrils. “What are you?”

Without another word, he drew his knee back and thrust his leg out with every ounce of power within him. His foot connected with her solar plexus and she stumbled back in outrage. Jai lunged at her, pummeling his fist into her face again and again. At the hum of power emanating from her neck, Jai swore and snatched at the talisman, ripping it from her neck and melting the stone in his bare hand. The act cost him; the ghulah pushed her own magic out to cast him back into the air. He slammed into the wall again; the breath whooshed momentarily out of his body as he slumped to the ground.

“You’re not the Guild,” The Ghulah snarled. “You’re full-blooded jinn!”

Huffing, Jai drew to his feet, shrugging at his leather jacket. He would reek by the time he got out of here. “Yeah. So that leaves us at a stalemate. Neither of us can kill the other without being taken before the jinn courts. So what do you say you get the hell out of Roswell?”

She curled her lip. “I was here first.”

Narrowing his eyes, Jai crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, I may be unable to put you in the ground like I want to, but I can make sure you never walk again. So what’s it going to be?”

“You don’t frighten me.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have all day and my patience is wearing thin since you tried to choke my friend to death.”

“She didn’t, though,” Ari croaked, and Jai shuddered in relief as she clambered to her feet. Her face was pale, her neck red and swollen, and she swayed unbalanced on her feet. She touched her neck, wincing, as she glared at the ghulah.

“You alright?” Jai asked, wishing he could grab her and hide her somewhere where nothing bad could happen to her ever again. How the hell was he going to get them out of this?

“I’m fine,” she reassured him, taking a few tentative steps toward him, her hair falling into her face. She tucked a few strands behind her ear with trembling fingers. When she pressed her side up against him, it took everything within him to resist putting an arm around her. Ari threw her shoulders back, looking every inch the battered princess. “More than I can say for this bitch.”

The ghulah grinned, cocking her hip confidently. “Like you could do anything to me, sweetheart.”

“Actually.” Ari smiled at her, a wicked smile he’d never seen before. It made him shiver, as did the pulse in her aura that told him she was about to use her magic. “I command you to leave Roswell and to never eat the flesh of any human again.”

The smug smile on the ghulah’s face slipped as the force of Ari’s command hit her. “How?” she blinked, her body walking her out of the alleyway. She stepped over the boy’s body next to the dumpster, and as she strode toward the mouth of the alley, her neck still craned over her shoulder, she gaped at Ari in utter disbelief.

That is some seriously creepy power she has going on. Jai eyed Ari, not sure what to say.

Catching his look, Ari shrugged wearily. “I know. It’s creepy.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “A little.”

“It worked though, right?”

“That it did.”

Frowning, Ari whipped around, her eyes falling on the body of the guy. “We should help—”

“He’s gone, Ari.” Not wanting her to see the mess the boy was in, Jai caught her arm, pulling her back.

“But—”

“He’s dead.”

Hating the way her lip trembled with distress, Jai wished there was something he could say or do, but there was really no way to comfort someone during their first experience with a violent death.

“We need to get out of here,” he told her quietly, trying to draw her gaze away from the young man. “We need to step into the cloak and get back out there and find Pazuzu. You okay to do that?”

Chapter 24

What’s the use of the wind

if it won’t take you away?

Accepting that there was nothing to be done for that one boy was harder than Ari ever could have imagined. Numbly, she followed Jai into the cloak, disappearing out onto Main Street just in time. Two deputies were approaching the alley with cautious. Feeling sick at the thought of what they’d find, Ari turned away, gripping tight to Jai’s hand. The garish costumes and masks—some seriously scary—as well as the pounding music and riotous flurry of the crowds were difficult to manage. She was quiet, not even using telepathy to talk to Jai. After ten minutes, Jai squeezed her head. Come out of the cloak.

You sure? People might have seen us go into the alley.

We’ll have a greater chance of feeling Pazuzu if we come out.