Page 37 of Wicked Warlock
A single rickey wooden chair sat next to a small hearth dug out from the wall. Clumps of twigs littered the ground around it as my father huddled close to it, holding his hands out toward the flames. To one side of the room sat a queen-sized bed with a thin, threadbare blanket and a single pillow. Multiple carpets covered the hard-packed dirt floor. I’d almost feel bad for him if he wasn’t such a murderous asshole.
“This is quaint.”
My voice startled him, and he jumped to his feet. “Beckett.”
I inclined my head toward him yet chose to say nothing. I had nothing more to say to this man. It was plain and simple. The world would be a better place without him in it. I walked farther into the cave, and he moved to keep as much distance between me and him. He straightened the sleeves of his suit then ran his hand over his dark, slicked-back hair.
“You were foolish to come here, boy.” We began to slowly circle each other, strolling around the cave casually rather than at the ready.
I chuckled while feeling a calm I had never felt around my father. Not since the night he killed my mother. This wasn’t rage or the madness I felt in Unseelie. This was pure truth. I had the strength and calm to face my father now. I wasn’t his son. I wasn’t a madman obsessed with power like him. No, I was me, and I’ve always known the truth. My father didn’t belong in this world.
Dark blue smoke seeped from his fingers and drifted up from his hands. “You’ll never take me to prison.”
I smiled at that thought. Prison deserved better than him. “Prison? Who said anything about prison?”
A feral growl escaped my father’s lips, and he threw his hands forward. Navy magic exploded from his palms. The walls of the cave shook and thousands of shards of rock exploded toward me, firing like arrows ready to slice me to pieces. I felt every single one of them moving toward me like I could pluck them from the air if I wanted. I waved my hand, and a wall of my bright blue power went up in front of me. When I flexed my fingers, it expanded outward, smacking into those projectiles. They evaporated into dust, filling the cave with a dirt cloud that I couldn’t see through.
Come out, come out, wherever you are. I didn’t hear his breathing or any movement. His magic didn’t flare or even hint at where he was. I held still, waiting for him to make a move to give me one inkling of where he was. Smoke seeped from my palms, and I forced back the dust. Before it was fully clear, he leapt at me using his power to blast him off from the ground. His hands wound around my throat, and we flew backward. My back slammed into the wall, knocking the air from my lungs. The cave wall crumbled under the force of the hit, and we flew through the hard rock. It tore at my clothing and skin. My head cracked against the rocks and for a moment all I saw was blackness.
The exterior of the cave exploded and we flew into the air. I drew back a fist and cracked him across the face as we tumbled toward the side of the mountain. Freezing air rushed past my face. My back slammed into the trunk of a tree and pain exploded in my ribs. It snapped under the force of the impact, falling over like I’d chopped it down. My father’s grip around my throat broke, and he spun to the side, slamming into a tree himself. It snapped and fell. We continued our freefall down the side of the mountain, taking out trees and tumbling as though we were never going to stop. Everything was a blur of pain and damage.
I ground my teeth together. Enough of this bullshit. I twisted in the air a moment before I smacked into another tree. My portal erupted in front of me, and I dove through it. Surrounded by magic, I righted myself and stopped the spinning. I sucked in a deep breath and walked toward the other end of my portal, yanking twigs from my clothing and pine needles from my hair. I straightened my jacket and stepped back into that wintery hell.
I stopped just ten feet below where my father was still tumbling. He was about to tumble by me, and I extended my arm, catching him by the throat and stopping his reckless fall. His eyes widened and his feet kicked out as he fought to find his footing. I squeezed, closing my grip around his throat, and he let out a small gurgling noise.
Navy smoke drifted up from his hands. Power filled my chest, and I bent my arm then threw him away from me. My father soared back and smacked into a thick pine tree. The branches shook when he hit it. Snow and pine needles rained down on him. His face turned a bright red and he ground his teeth together. Scratches marred his face and hands.
“I should’ve killed you when I killed her.”
I tilted my head to side, studying the fear and anger in his eyes. I felt nothing for him, not anger, or sadness, or regret. There was nothing; only the certainty that I was doing the right thing for everyone. “Yes, you should have.”
He threw up his arms and power exploded from him. My own rose to meet his and it collided between us. A whirling tunnel of smoke filtered from him to me. Lightning cracked within the tunnel, firing from him to me. Sweat ran down his face and his eyes bulged with the effort of trying to hold off my magic. Cold determination sat like a lead ball in my stomach.
Today is the day you die. I opened my hands and blasted more of my power at him. The tunnel of our combined magic shifted toward him. Like a tidal wave, it washed over him from head to toe, soaking him in my magic, my power. He dropped his hands, staggering back to lean against a tree. His face paled and eyes widened. One by one, inch-long cuts opened over his skin as if my magic was pulling him apart a little at a time. The cuts opened in perfect lines, like he was being sliced with a scalpel. Blood trickled from each of his wounds, soaking into the clothing and turning the snow beneath his feet a dark crimson.
Blue smoke gathered in his palms and drifted up toward me. I flicked my wrists and a wood stake shot from the tree and slammed through his right hand, pinning it to the tree trunk behind him. He let out a pained groan and his cheeks puffed out with each breath he took. He held up his other hand, still trying to fight me. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so pathetic. I flicked my hand once more and another wood stake flew from the tree behind me and lodged into his left hand, pinning that one to the tree trunk behind him.
I walked up to him, watching as he sucked in heaving breaths and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. I lifted my hand and another stake flew toward me. I caught it and stood beside him.
“The council…” He coughed with a deep rattling sound. “The council will avenge me.”
The thought of them made me chuckle. “They won’t be around long enough.”
I raised my arm and let the stake go, using my magic to drive it into the left side of his chest where his heart should’ve been. The sound was wet and crunching as it went through bone and right into his chest. I never took my eyes off him as he gasped and his body twitched. Moments later, his eyes turned lifeless and his body sagged toward the ground with his hands still pinned to the tree.
Good riddance. One down. I turned away from him and stopped. Kylian stood there, leaning against the tree with his arms crossed over his chest, casual as ever. “Your dad?”
I nodded. No use lying.
He scoffed. “That’s cold.”
I opened the portal right next to Kylian, ready to move on to the next. “Tell that to my mother.”
Chapter 16
Maze
“I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts, deedly dee dee… There they are a-standing in a row. Bum babum babum…”
