Dangerous Diabolical: Book 1 (Iridescent) ✔️

10.4

Like tar seeping into the water, black sludge coated the waves of magic flowing into each of them. Each body drew from the same realm of magic. On the floor where the photo fell, their arms were linked with Joanne's in front of the sea. Their magic flowed like the lull of water on the shore. Was it possible she shared their source of magic? Leo had visited the weaker in the community, scanning their necks, none of them wore amulets.

Is that why he'd warded their house? I had scented both him and Grahame on the doorstep.

The body on the floor tried to grasp at me helplessly with bloody hands, prompting me to make a beeline for the front door. The guy with the bat didn't follow. From the couch, the figure leapt up. Its front teeth elongated and nails half transformed into claws, it lunged with outstretched arms. Its fingertips grazed through the tendrils of my hair as I skirted the corner, leaving us both skidding into the hall.

The runner caught my foot sending me stumbling into the wall mirror, shards shattering across the carpet. Narrowly avoiding the same fate, my pursuer kept its footing, claws raking across my back and harmlessly encountering the scales there. My clothing wasn't as lucky.

"Hey!" I complained about the damage. I'd just put this on!

It growled in response, lunging at me again. Offering a kick to the midsection, he was shunted backwards leaving me just enough time to clear the front door.

Catapulting out of the threshold I twisted, taking a deep inhale.

Time to see what mojo Leo had laid.

Channeling a fraction of the magic absorbed earlier I cast the most natural spell for me in the world. The air rushing from my lungs converged into pure heat, the burn caressing the oxygen to explode a powerful flame into life. Surging forward the tendrils sped towards the stumbling figure.

And hit straight into an invisible solid wall.

The air burst into life with a shimmering shield. It glimmered around the building as my flames attacked. The figure inside slammed into the invisible fortress boundary. I smirked, as my feet landed securely on the ground. 

The ground was scorched from the impact, but the house stood perfectly intact. From inside the other two corpses joined the impossible task of trying to escape the house, slamming uselessly against the wall. Small embers floated to the ground.

Leo had cast one hell of a shield. I whistled appreciatively trying to decipher the pattern of his magic. It seemed to channel from the ground itself, the tendrils growing and knotting into a steadfast barrier, completely invisible to the average eye. The source of magic looked completely independent of anything to do with the Druid. If it wasn't for the mark on the doorstep, I'd never have guessed.

The corpses inside gave one last angry hit to it, before dropping to the ground as if a puppeteer had cut their strings. All three of them now had satisfied grins etched onto their faces as they lay immobile.

With a grimace I inspected my cheek for damage, feeling slick blood where the bat had split the skin. Ouch. That smarted. I couldn't help but feel like they were happy about injuring me, and this whole exchange had served some other purpose.

There wasn't time to ponder it; like when I messed with the amulet, Leo must have noticed the spell triggering and he'd be on his way any moment now; and I was meant to be in the very boring SPCC lodgings room, not triggering defensive spells. With one last puff of smoke, it was time to hastily escape to somewhere else.

Blue lights accompanied the screeching tones of the human vehicles as they chased toward the house. Queueing cars haphazardly tried to make way, but the roads were heavily packed, and horn beeps frantically added to the chaos.