Sex, Lies & Magic

Fifteen

After locking up the shop with Dana I headed home. As I passed the coffee shop I spied Adair in the window. He sat at one of the big leather couches with his head buried in a book with the words HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY written in bold on the spine and cover. Like he could feel me looking at him he glanced up from the pages and stared as I passed. Maybe I stared longer than I should have but I did cast my gaze elsewhere before I crossed out of the window.

Nope. I love Craven, even if he doesn't want to go all the way with me. I'm okay with that.

Shaking my head I sighed, and in my moment of distraction as I passed the alleyway someone darted out and hit me over the back of the head. I staggered with the blow but the force failed to knock me unconscious.

Dodging his second punch I slipped low, grabbing the edge of his jacket. I spun around and tangled his arms in it, before kicking him in the side of the head. Honestly, I welcomed the fight probably a little more than I should have. Literally, anything other than questions of my personal life was preferable. My how things had changed.

The guy was quicker than the last one, landing a few punches in the process as we exchanged initial blows. He wasn't a changeling. No, this was a full bloodied Sidhe and he moved like it. His magic attacked me as I started gaining ground on the fighting. I ripped the dagger from my necklace and used it to slice at my adversary as our powers fought it out in puffs of orange puffs and sparks where we collided.

As the fight grew more heated my powers ignited with seething black fire. It licked at his skin, leaving charred flesh behind with the distinct scent of pork and burnt hair. It seemed like not matter what I did I couldn't gain any ground. I was good, but not good enough.

Then he head butted me and I went down, staggering back and falling on my ass. My powers floundered for an instant, and I lost control of the fight. His magic coiled around me, binding me, and knocking the dagger from my hand. I let him squeeze me as I focused on him and my powers.

Ignoring the pain of the deep bruises I let the dark flames grow, pouring every last ounce of everything I had into it as it flared and burst forth consuming my attacker. He screamed and instantly his power relented.

Seconds later nothing remained of my attacker other than a scorch on the ground. I could hardly breath and the fingers on my left hand refused to move.

Adrenaline held the lion's share of the pain away but even then I still felt a sharp stabbing with every breath. Cold settled into my body as I started to go into shock. With my right hand I took my phone out of my jacket. Spider web cracks coated the screen and here and there were splotches of dead pixels. Somehow it still worked enough for me to send a text message to Craven.

- In ally behind building. Dying.

The spots in my vision came before the pain did, and as consciousness slipped away I was actually happy that I blacked out.

Waking up I broke the surface of ice cold water with shrill scream. My body contorted hard and I threw my head forward, my long dark tresses whipping water forward. Droplets cascaded down on the surface. Violent shivers made it hard to do anything and my vision was foggy. Darkness pressed in around me and I couldn't make sense of my surroundings.

After a few moments everything came into focus. I was at The Greening, only it wasn't how I remembered it. There were no torches lit and the once ornate mosaic on the floor had moss creeping up through the cracks shattering a handful of the elaborately painted tiles. Trembling, I slipped three times as I pulled myself to standing. Assisted by my magic the old torches leapt to life revealing the ruin of the room.