Dancing With The Devil, Witches Anonymous Step 5(23)

“We need to talk,” Adam said.

His long, chestnut-colored hair brushed his shoulders. Haunted brown eyes met mine with urgency. The soft cotton of his T-shirt outlined every one of his fireman muscles.

Gorgeous. Plain and simple, he was one gorgeous human male specimen. The father of all mankind. Yes, I loved Lucifer and now understood I’d never love anyone the way I did him, but the female inside me still responded to Adam. We had shared an uncommon, but righteously intense bond.

Until Eve came along. His beautiful counterpart in the whole In The Beginning thing.

They belonged together, much like Lucifer and I did. Any fool could see that. It still stung, though, to see them together and so…happy with each other.

“Not now.” I brushed past him, gave Eve my usual stink eye glare. “I have to find Cephiel.”

Eve, in all her mother-of-humankind splendor stepped in my path. “This is important.”

“Not as important as what I’m dealing with.”

Keisha walked out of the dining room, a frown on her face and a question in her eyes. She gave me the what now lift of her hands. I shook my head. There was no time to explain. The music was louder out here, the bass keeping rhythm with the pounding in my head. I scanned the crowd for Cephiel.

“He’s gone,” Eve said. “Left a few minutes ago with that witch friend of yours.”

Marcia was no friend and I was definitely ripping up her Evie’s Buy-10-Get-1-Free ice cream card. It just figured she had whisked Cephiel off to the land of sin right when I finally needed his angelic advice. “Did they say where they were going?”

“Amy.” Adam grabbed my wrist. “You need to come with us.”

His touch was warm and familiar, but a cold tendril of magic stung my skin where his fingers encircled my wrist. A cold magic that skimmed my system, slamming up against my own magic and rattling down my spine.

I knew that type of cold. Angelic.

I jerked my arm from his grasp and backed up. “What kind of game are you playing with Gabriel?”

Eve stepped forward, backing me up against the wall. “Like Adam said, you need to come with us.”

She and Adam reached for my wrists at the same time. My magic hissed. I flailed my arms and tried to push them aside. Where their hands touched my bare skin, magic sizzled and sunk into me with sharp teeth.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Keisha, seeing my distress, rushed forward. “Let go of her.”

But it was too late. The magic Gabriel had infused Adam and Eve with bit down hard, sinking its cold fury into my bones. The room spun and my head grew too heavy to hold up.

The thumpthumpthump of the bass blocked out Keisha’s voice, the noises in the room blurring into one loud buzz. Adam’s face morphed into Gabriel’s and Eve’s mutated as well, transforming into a cat’s face. Her eyes slanted at an angle, and as she smiled, her teeth pointed.

I closed my eyes, sucked in a breath and mentally reached for the Mark. In the back of my mind, I noted I had become entirely too dependent on the damn thing.

So be it. Adam and Eve were up to no good and had a powerful archangel backing them. Since this involved me, it could only be bad. Plus, Zayfeer was waiting for me, Luc was a no-show and Cephiel was gone.

Think, Amy. What would Oprah do?

Somehow I didn’t think the O would know what to do in this situation either. This was all on me.

My magic was ready and willing, cha-chaing inside my chest. But no. I wasn’t going to use it. I could think my way out of this. All I had to do was…

Repel.

Whoops.

A rush of hot magic whooshed up from the soles of my feet. It throttled through me like a freight train, causing my back to arch. A yell issued from my mouth as I threw back my head.

A giant circle of energy rolled out of my body, then another. They came in waves, keeping time with the music. Bam…bam…bam, the power circles punched out of me, a magical tsunami knocking Adam, Eve, Keisha and the rest of the partygoers out of the way. Those nearest me flew through the air like dolls smacking into those behind them. Chairs flew, knickknacks were crushed. Bodies tumbled and fell.

Yeah, definitely not my best Oprah imitation.

My body threw out one last circle before it spasmed and I slid down the wall. Disoriented and sick to my stomach, I shut my eyes tight and clamped my jaws together. One second. I just needed a second to regroup and…

Hands, cold as ice and throwing off angelic mojo, grabbed me. The magic was in sharp contrast to mine and my body spasmed again as if an electrical current had zapped me.

Blinking hard, I tried to focus on who was gripping my arms, but my head was woozy and my eyes wouldn’t focus. I didn’t need to see. The angel magic biting into my flesh and bones once more told me all I needed to know.