Justice Calling(25)

Wolf charged.  We burst down the hill and into the ring of torches and I brought my hands up, aiming balls of force right at Bernie’s hooded head.
I totally would have saved the night if the evil minion I hadn’t spotted had waited just another few seconds.
But he didn’t.
Instead he shot me in the back.






 
    Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure,   Magic
    
 


 

Chapter 10


The shot was loud. The bullet ripped through me and the pain wiped my grip on my magic.  That whole thing with the bullet in the hip? A flesh wound compared to the tearing pain that spiked through my chest.  I think I stopped breathing.
I tumbled off Wolf’s back and stopped my fall with my face.  My arms and legs didn’t seem to want to respond.  I didn’t think a bullet could kill a sorceress, but this one felt like it was giving an A-plus effort.
The pain turned from lightning strikes to a deep, terrifying chill.  I heard the chanting continuing and somewhere beside me Wolf growled. She might look scary as fuck, but she can’t actually do anything to a human. Or stop a bullet.
My eyes didn’t seem to want to open, either.  The grass was wet and cool on my cheek. Maybe I’d just stay here. It smelled good. Clean. Nothing like blood or dying animals. I don’t like blood.  It’s so sticky.
“I got her!” a man’s voice called out near me.
Wolf licked my back, her tongue molten hot, and I screamed.  The pain faded back enough that I could think again, and when I moved my hands to get them underneath me and pry my face off the dirt, they sluggishly obeyed.
I raised my head, spitting out blood and dirt. My mouth was gritty but at least my eyes were working now and I seemed to be able to breathe again.  A young man in a black robe stood about ten feet from me, pointing a gun and grinning.
I reached for my magic and this time I didn’t try to really control the flow of it. I tore open the dams on my power and let it fill me to the brim. The pain gave up, turning off like a switch had been flipped. I knew somewhere in my subconscious that I was going to really regret this tomorrow, but I wanted to live until tomorrow.
I wrapped one hand around my talisman and struggled to my knees.  I thrust my magic down into my left arm and used it to extend my fist, slapping the gun out of the evil minion’s hand.  He yelled in surprise, but I didn’t stop there.  I swung my arm back, using the same force to punch him in the face.
He went down and stayed down.  Guess no one had ever told him not to bring a gun to a mage fight.
I laughed, though the sound came out as more of a hiccupping cough.  The chanting grew quicker, more frantic.  I twisted and looked at Bernie.  The moonlight shone on the huge silver dagger in his hands as he raised it over Ezee’s body.  He was twenty feet away from me at least. I tried to rise and my vision swam with red and black dots.
Tiger-Alek roared, drawing my gaze to him. He was closer. I remembered how quickly he could move. He just needed out of that circle.
That, I could do.
I let go of my talisman and slammed both fists into the ground, channeling the raging tide of my magic into the surface of the earth.  I visualized it charging just under the roots of the grass like a tunneling Arrakis sandworm.  The grass rippled and the earth buckled in a straight line from my hands to the circle trapping Alek.
When the ripple hit the circle, I yanked my fists up and threw them wide in a breaking motion.
The circle flew apart, dark shards of power shooting into the air and chalk exploding in a white cloud.  Tiger-Alek sprang free and took two great leaping bounds before he crashed through the circle surrounding Bernie.
“Don’t kill him!” I yelled.  My magical tide was receding. I was definitely hitting a limit.  I pushed myself to my feet.
Tiger-Alek slammed into Bernie, knocking him to the side.  Then he was just Alek again. He grabbed the chubby warlock by his robe and twisted his wrist in a crazy Bruce Lee kind of move until Bernie screamed and dropped the knife. Even stumbling forward and still fifteen feet away, I heard Bernie’s arm break.
“Is the spell broken?” Alek called to me.
I looked around. No more shadows flew around the broken circle, and though I could still sense Bernie’s weird, nauseating magic, it wasn’t strong anymore.
“I think so,” I said.  “Harper? Levi?”
“Alive, I can hear them breathing.”
Super senses must be nice. I sagged with relief.
“Good. So, Bernie Barnes, we meet again.” I looked down at the whimpering man.  He looked so pathetic that I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.