Sex, Lies & Magic

Thirteen

Returning to Perfect Balance I took a step through the portal with purpose, unlike before... and ended up soaked from head to toe on the other side. Grumbling, I dried myself with my magic. After living a year hidden in a few hours I no longer viewed my powers like something to be afraid of. On the contrary, if someone had enough balls to attack me now they were going to get it. Fanning my fingers back through my hair I dried it.

"You guys actually completed the whole program, I'm impressed." Tasmin led us through the store.

"Wasn't that the purpose?" Dana asked as we walked into the main room.

"Yes, but most don't make it passed the second month of training. Like I told Samantha, all of you must be exceptionally determined."

"Life or death situations do tend to make people desperate enough to walk through hell." I shrugged it off.

"Well, hopefully it helped." She smiled weakly and took her wand out of her hair, waving it in the direction of the closed sign which flipped over.

"Definitely." I forced myself to look happy, despite the ball of anxiety brewing in the pit of my stomach.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Closing my eyes, I let out a soft breath. It was the cadence of a text message. I didn't check it. The last thing I wanted was to deal with Craven so I ignored it, his warning lurked all too fresh in my mind.

"I'm going to walk home." I righted my bag on my shoulder.

"I thought Craven was picking you up?" Sam furrowed her brows.

"Yeah, he said he would, but I don't want to bother him."

"It's five miles."

"Walking's something I do now."

"Fine. Sounds like a wasted two hours to me, but whatever."

Half way, that was as far as I made it before someone started following me. My Shadowblade training paid off and I couldn't fight the smirk which curled my lips.

You are so fucked, you don't even know.

As I continued my quick steps I zipped up my purse and jacket. The last thing I wanted was for my stuff to go flying everywhere. Cutting through an alley I took the little bar off my necklace. A certain level of giddiness replaced my fear from before. It was nice to be the cat instead of the moth. In many ways, it felt kind of like a final, this was the real test to see if I actually learned anything.

Slowing my pace, I allowed my assailant to gain on me. I waited, schooling my breathing as they approached me from behind. They made the mistake of grabbing me by the waist I headbutted them. The initial impact jarred me as always, but it stunned them long enough for me to toss the little flat piece of metal from my necklace in the air. It shifted into a dagger and I moved it to my hand with my magic.

The guy was easily twice my size, a Sidhe who looked to spend entirely too much time in the gym. He had

Unseelie Court written all over him with the blue black hair and pitch black eyes. His entire eye was black, he wasn't pure sidhe. I didn't know what black eyes meant—something to ask someone later.

That moving mountain of muscle heaved his massive meaty fist in my direction. I blocked the blow and met him attack for attack, unfortunately he was not only huge but pretty good. A few of his hits landed, making me stagger back and one even knocking me on my back. I quickly recovered rolling to standing.