Her First Mistake

Chapter Forty-One: Nuh Uh. I Don't Think So

   I stalked after the fae. He was digging himself out of the pile of boxes. Just as he'd freed himself, I dropped my staff on his ankle. A crimson chain locked around his leg in an instant. The fae grunted as I strung him upside down, locking his ankle to the ceiling. The knives clattered from his hands. A brown bracelet fell down to his wrist and he was careful to catch it, but all of the blood was rushing into his head.

   "You really are arrogant," I remarked. "Really? Only three people? You barely handled me in the Ghost Realm, where I was powerless and injured. You had four people then. So what changed? I'm fully-powered here, dumbass."

   He glared at me, refusing to answer. I shook my head, exasperated. "Just tell me where Dani is already. You're wasting my time."

   "Reilly!"

   The sharp voice of the demon had me groaning. "What do you want? I'm interrogating this guy. Little busy."

   "Roxie," Tate said tightly, "you might want to look."

   Something about his tone told me it would probably be a good idea. I glanced over my shoulder. Tate was alright, but he was bleeding from his ear again. Behind him stood the demon. He had materialized and why became pretty obvious. 

   Dad was clenching his jaw tightly. The demon had a knife to his throat calmly. My lip curled. Dad looked otherwise unharmed, but that could change in seconds. 

   "Let him down," said the demon. "And kick your staff away."

   Like I was going to listen. I never liked following the rules -- I made my own. Rules tended to backfire against me. I turned my head and shifted my hand, as if I was going to drop the staff. The demon's arm relaxed for a split second. In a swift motion, I swung my arm up. Magic seeped from my hand and extended, sharping into a blade as long as my arm. The point jabbed against the fae's throat. He stiffened.

   "Let him go," I mimicked haughtily. "And kick your knife away."

   The demon turned his head. "Why do you assume I care for his life?"

   I saw something before the demon did and fought a smug grin. "I don't, actually. I just know that I've got this guy helpless and my dad is far from it."

   Dad smashed the paperweight he'd found into the demon's head. The moment the demon faltered, I lashed a chain around his arm and wrenched him away from my father. The demon vanished and my chain fell, disintegrating. 

   There was a sudden snarl and a white blur exploded from behind a shelf. The polar bear was probably the biggest mammal I'd ever seen. It barreled directly for Tate. Tate had heard it coming and lunged for it. Halfway, his body twisted and suddenly the Tate I knew was gone. There were clinks and abruptly there was a crythal in the room.

   The grey-eyed panther slammed directly into the polar bear. Everywhere Tate touched left gashes across the shifter. She howled as Tate caught her scruff and thrashed his head, actually lifting her up and slamming her back down onto the shelf. He shifted back seconds later and he grabbed her snout. His fist slammed onto her head so hard that the bear was knocked unconscious.

   I made an impressed sound. Tate rolled his shoulders. Something else began to crackle. Static electricity made the hairs on the back of my neck raise. My eyes widened and I started to turn. White light flashed through the room as the fae crackled with literal electricity. Lightning exploded outwards, slamming directly into me.

   I flew across the room. My body hit a shelf and sent it crashing down. A cacophony of noise rang through the empty mall as it sent a domino effect down the line of shelves as they toppled. Tate was flung directly into a wall. My father rolled across the floor. Gritting my teeth, I whacked the boxes off of me and rose to my feet. My lip curled in anger as my clothes smoked. Pain radiated through my blood from the hit.

   "Okay," I said darkly. My staff began to glow so hotly with magic that crimson pooled out of the crevices and started to puddle at my feet. "That was uncalled for. I don't appreciate how you just threw my father across the store." Sparks flew. "I wasn't even trying my hardest. Screw playing nice." 

   The fae realized his mistake the moment that I stood up. His face whitened. I lowered one hand and scarlet poured down my arm. It wound and hardened, clinking like metal as the chain formed. A heavy ball solidified at the end. With my other hand, I launched a blinding spell. The fae managed to dodge, but the chained ball hooked his ankle and jerked it out from under him. I hauled him across the floor and locked large braces on his wrists. 

   The fae snarled and electricity crackled down his arms. "Nuh uh," I snapped. "I don't think so." I twisted my hand and a red bullet sank into his collarbone. All electricity halted because of the blocking spell. "You're an idiot for coming after me," I growled. "Now, where's Dani?"

   Dad suddenly cried out. Tate launched the sale rack and it collided with something invisible. I whipped around as the demon materialized. He met my eyes and vanished just as another rack crashed into where he'd been. Tate caught Dad's arm as he stumbled. A knife stuck from his back.

    The invisible demon broke the fae free. Without even a glance at me, the fae bolted for the doors. I didn't hesitate. "Get him to a hospital!" I shouted at Tate, chasing after the fae. That little asshole had the audacity to stab my own father, right in front of me. Now it was personal. That little shit wasn't getting away.

   He sprinted for everything he was worth. I threw up my staff and it disappeared. My feet slapped against the ground. While I was a good boxer, I was not a runner. There were too many people around for me to be able to intervene otherwise,. As much as I wanted to crash the ceiling down on top of that moron, Tate's warning about getting an Enforcer involved was probably valid. I couldn't be showy about magic. I gritted my teeth and lengthened my stride. The fae turned a corner and a bench suddenly launched itself at me.

   I slid against the ground and pushed myself upwards with a thin spike of crimson that jabbed from my palm. The tiles cracked beneath me. It had given the fae the ground it needed, because when I turned a corner, a directory hit my legs. I tumbled down, managing to catch myself on my hands, and pushed myself up. As my eyes found the fae, he wrenched open the door to the parking lot. The demon appeared, grabbed his arm, and they vanished.

   "Shit," I hissed, dashing for the door. It never opened. I reached for a nex line, but there wasn't one. They couldn't get away that way. And the door had never opened. They were insubstantial, and that meant they were gone in a way that I couldn't follow. Dammit to hell. They'd gotten away.

This is me, totally plugging my ONC entry. It's made it to the longlist and I'm hoping y'all might enjoy it as much as you've enjoyed Sugar and Spice thus far. It's called Broken Orbit. Like suspenseful, dark, psychological thrillers? Well, I hope you like snow too, because there's a lot of it. Head to my profile to check it out :)

As always, thanks for reading! Especially to the silent readers. I see you guys, too.