I swung back to watch the fight, my heart almost stopping when the ugly black demon raked his claws forward across Auric"s chest, tearing the cloth and skin, red blood immediately welling.
I found myself engulfed in fury–how dare they harm Auric--and without thinking, shouted out the powerful words that suddenly appeared in my mind. The force of them rang in the air, and I saw the demon"s eyes widen in horror--something I"d never thought to see on one of their faces--before he disintegrated in a shower of black ash.
But whatever I"d done had been too much, and I collapsed to the dirty asphalt in a faint.
* * * *
When I came to, Auric"s face hovered over mine, a concerned look on it. “Where am I?” I asked, trying to sit up.
Auric put a hand on me and pushed me back down. “On the couch in your office. Stay down for a minute.”
“I"m fine. What about the demons?”
“What demons?” asked Auric. “Whatever spell you cast turned all three of them to dust.”
I stared at him blankly. I"d done what? “Impossible. I can see, maybe, destroying one with the ancient magic like I did before, but three of that size? No way. No one can do that.”
“You did it.”
I wanted to call him a liar, but I knew he told the truth. It would also explain why I"d fainted.
The amount of magic involved... Well, let"s just say it had to be staggering. But where had all that magic come from in the first place? Had I reached some new magical plateau? Whatever had happened had left me weaker than a kitten, something I discovered when I tried to get up. My head spun in multiple directions and my legs buckled, sitting me back hard onto the couch.
Auric hovered over me, concerned. He placed the back of his hand on my forehead, as if checking for a temperature. I didn"t have one yet, but if he touched me a little lower... How I could think dirty thoughts when my stomach churned with nausea, I didn"t know, but suddenly I felt a little better.
“Let me up,” I complained.
“No, I"m not watching you fall flat on your face. Whatever you did, it took a lot out of you.”
I didn"t like being treated like an invalid. Annoyed, I pushed at him. I might as well have been pushing a humongous rock. He didn"t move, so I leaned back, sulking. Auric looking at me, sighed, and shook his head before sticking his head out the door and murmuring to someone. A second later, Christopher and Bambi came in.
“Why are they here?” I asked.
“Something happened outside. That magic you did, I could tell you didn"t quite control it. Look at what happened: instead of just destroying one demon, you took out three. And yesterday at your apartment with that other demon; I"m not blind, I saw the look on your face when you disintegrated it. Something is changing with your magic, and we need to find out why before you hurt yourself.”
I opened my mouth to deny what he said, even if it resembled the truth. I refused to admit there might be a problem with my magic or my control over it. Auric, though, saw the argument coming and dropped to his knees beside the couch I lay on. He kissed me soundly, effectively swallowing any protest or denials I would have made. He didn"t stop until Christopher cleared his throat and Bambi giggled. As for me, dazed from his embrace, I would have done anything he asked.
He smiled at me, stroking my now-swollen lower lip. “They"re going to ask you a couple of questions to see if they can figure out what"s happening with your magic. Be a good girl and answer them.”
His smart ass–totally male--remark annoyed me. “My magic"s gotten stronger, so what?”
“Just humor me, please.”
I glared at Auric. I wanted him to go away and leave me alone before something bad happened to him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and have him kiss me silly again. I wanted to kill something again for hurting him. I wanted to tell him to go to Hell for making me love him when I couldn"t have him. Only one problem with the last scenario: if he went to Hell, I"d probably run into him there.
I sighed, looking at the three sets of eyes observing me. It looked like I wouldn"t get what I wanted „til I cooperated. “What do you want to know?”
“When did you first get your power?” asked Christopher.
“I"ve always had it.” I still remembered the first time I"d used it. It had been not long after the move into my dad"s palace in Hell. In an effort to socialize me, they"d brought a demon child in for me to play with. That hadn"t worked so well. The demon child had stolen my favorite dolly and taunted me. I remembered crying, and pleading for her to give it back. When she"d laughed at me, I"d gotten mad and wished she"d stop. Next thing I knew, the demon girl had flown through the air and smacked into a wall, and I got my dolly back. Everyone was a lot more careful with me after that.