Gunmetal Magic(58)

There were too many words I wanted to say at once.

“Out of spite,” Raphael said. “She kissed me and it didn’t do anything.”

The correct response finally accreted in my mind. I made my mouth move.

“I hate you.”

He spread his arms. “What else is new?”

Everything that churned inside me, everything that hurt and twisted, like a whirlwind of shattered glass in my chest, tore out, shredding through my brave front. “You broke my heart, Raphael!” I snapped. “I cried for hours when I got home last night. It felt like my life was over, you egoistical sonovabitch. And you, you put me through this just to teach me a lesson? Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have any idea how much that hurt?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I know exactly how much.”

“There is a difference! I was one of those charred bodies in a hospital bed. I was out for three days and woke up in a military hospital, chained to my bed. There was an Order’s advocate sitting by my side. I had no choice: either I came with him or I would be taken into custody by the Order and brought to headquarters in leg irons. I got to write two notes, stop by my apartment for ten minutes to grab my clothes, and we were gone. I didn’t even have a chance to make arrangements for Grendel. I had to take the dog with me and they agreed to it only because I would rather fight the lot of them than let the dog starve to death inside my place. I didn’t hurt you on purpose, but you hurt me deliberately. Am I a toy to you?”

His eyes sparked with red. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“You…you asshole! You spoiled baby!”

“Self-centered idiot.”

“Momma’s boy!”

“Stuck-up, self-righteous harpy.”

“I’m so done with you,” I told him through clenched teeth.

“I think I’m tired of doing things your way,” Raphael said lazily. “Don’t expect me to go meekly into the night just because you said so.”

My voice could’ve cut through steel. “If you don’t, I’ll shoot you.”

He snapped his teeth. “You better make it count. One shot will be all you get.”

That challenge burned right through the last of my defenses. My other self spilled out of my human body in a mess of fur and claws, exhaling fury. I snapped my monster teeth at him, my beastkin voice a ragged snarl. “I’ll carve your heart out. You’ll regret the day you were ever born. Of all the selfish, egoistical bastards—”

“And you want me.” He grinned. “You can’t wait to climb back in my bed.”

“Grow up!”

“Look who’s talking.”

The magic slammed into us, like a massive deluge. Wards spilled from the top of the door frame and windows in shimmering curtains of translucent orange. Blue symbols ignited in the corners of the room.

The moon on the wall opened its eyes with a metallic screech.

I dived under the desk and Raphael flattened himself against the wall, under the scales.

“Boudas,” the moon said in Anapa’s amusement-saturated voice. “So predictable. Couldn’t resist snooping around, could you?”

Crap! Crap, crap, crap.

Raphael jerked a curtain off the window and tossed it over the moon.

“That won’t help you,” Anapa said. “Don’t leave. I’ll be right there.”

I lunged out from under the desk and hit the ward on the closest window. Pain burned through me, I blinked, and Raphael pulled me off the floor. My teeth rattled in my skull.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Anapa-Moon said. “I told you not to leave.”

Raphael hurled himself at the window ward. His resistance to magical wards was higher than mine. The defensive spell clutched at him, sharp whips of orange lightning stinging his skin. His body jerked, rigid. His eyes rolled back in his skull.

I grabbed him and pulled him back. The orange lightning kissed me, and I almost blacked out again. We crashed to the floor.

“Fi-fi-fo-fum,” the moon sang. “I smell the blood of hyena man and I’m coming up the staaaairs.”

Raphael’s eyes snapped open. He surged off the floor and looked up.

If we busted through the floor, we’d fall right into the welcoming embrace of his security. Going through the ceiling was our best bet.

“Pick me up!” I called.

He grabbed me and thrust me upward. I punched the ceiling, putting all of my strength into it. The panel broke from the impact of my fist, and I hit the wood beam underneath it.

“What are the two of you up to?” the moon wondered.

I hammered the ceiling with my fist again and again, widening the hole. The wood cracked, then broke under the barrage of my punches. I tore the broken section of the beam out, hurling it aside, and punched the darkness. It tore and the night sky winked at me through the narrow gap. No attic. We would break out straight onto the roof above. Raphael set me down on my feet, took a running start, and jumped, flipping in midair, kicking at the opening I had made. He landed in a roll as a shower of wooden boards hit the floor. “Go.”