Page 73 of Wicked Warlock
He walked over to Nova and offered her his hand. She looked down at it like it was a snake about to bite her. “What?”
“I need you to walk to the edge of the circle.”
She left his hand hanging there as she walked around him to stand on the edge of the circle facing inward. “Now what?”
“Now I break an oath to you.” He sauntered into the circle and stood before her. He met her eye and took both of his hands in hers. When she tried to yank them away, he shook his head and pursed his lips. “You want this to work, don’t you?”
Nova growled at him through clenched teeth, “I loathe you.”
“And I, Liesin, son of Hades, promise to love, honor, and cherish you for always. I freely give you my heart and soul. It is yours for the taking. And I promise it always will be.” He gave her hands a squeeze and winked at her.
“You piece of shit liar.” Nova yanked her hands from his. “You don’t say those things to a girl and not mean them.”
“Awww.” He pressed his hands to his chest and turned his voice to baby talk. “Did I hurt the little death girl’s feelings?”
Her hand snapped out so fast I barely saw it. She cracked him across the cheek and smiled. Even with her elbow-length gloves on, she left a handprint on his skin. “You forget yourself, and me. I don’t have feelings.”
The circle glowed bright red. Each one of those lines cast a vivid color across the walls. Liesin pointed down toward his feet then stepped back out of the circle. “That tells me that you do.”
“You wish.” She too backed away.
“See? Break an oath,” he pointed at the ground, “and they appear. The punishers of men.”
Nova growled under her breath, “I’d gladly take that job.”
“Are you saying you want to tie me up?” Liesin arched and eyebrow at her.
“Both of you shut up and focus,” Zinnia snapped and pointed toward the ground.
The light grew brighter and the sound of flapping wings drawing closer filled the room. There in a flash of light she stood before us. A woman with large black bat-like wings stood in the middle of the circle Liesin had drawn on the floor. Scraps of red gauzy material criss-crossed her chest, leaving her flat stomach completely exposed. The skirt, if you could call it that, was made of strips of the same red gauzy material. It hung low on her waist and had long slits that ran up each of her thighs. Dark brown hair was piled high on top of her head in a mess of curls. She made a show of looking us over with her heavily lined cat-like eyes.
“What is the meaning of this?” Her head snapped to the side, and she locked eyes on Tucker. “Hello, Phoenix. Come to have me play with your mind again?”
What the hell? Again?
“Not tonight, Megaera.” He shook his head and let fire run down his arms.
“Pity.” She stepped out of the circle and began to saunter around with a hip-swaying way about her. She studied each of us, one by one. When she got to Tilly, she backed away slowly and moved onto the next.
Liesin cleared his throat. “We need your help.”
She whirled around on him. “I am here to punish, son of Hades. Not here to help.”
He held up his hand and it glowed a faint orange color, like lava. She stopped dead in her tracks and backed up, eyeing his hand like it was the world’s ultimate weapon. He ground his teeth together and spoke through thinned lips. “You will do as asked.”
Even as she backed away, she snickered at him. “Death is only the beginning.”
This was getting us nowhere. We need the walls up, not to stand here and have cryptic conversations. I flicked my hand and thick chains wrapped around her wrists. Behind her a golden cage stood with the door open. Beckett threw his magic at her, and she went flying backward. At the last second, her wings shot out and she stopped herself from going into the cage. She looked to me and hissed, “Manifestor.”
She launched herself toward me, and I let my power flow over my hands, ready for her. A blur of movement shot across the room, and Tilly had the Fury pinned by the neck against the wall with one hand. With the other, she held those huge back wings pressed against the wall. The Fury hissed and tried to fight back, yet Tilly held her there like it was nothing.
“Til, I’m okay. I got this.” I didn’t want her to get hurt. Didn’t want her to be sucked into something else.
When she looked at me, her eyes glowed a bright green. I placed my hand on her shoulder and she jerked away from me, yet never said a word. I backed up a step and nodded at her. “Let her go. I have it.”
Megaera hissed at me and tried to swipe out her hand. Tilly kept her hand wrapped around the Fury’s neck. She spun around and threw her into the cage so hard that it nearly tipped over. I flicked my hand and the door slammed shut with a loud clang. Liesin sprang into action drawing weird symbols around the top of the cage with the piece of chalk in his hand. The golden bars glowed brightly and sealed shut. Megaera tried to reach through the bars to grab him, but she was thrown back. She clutched her hand to her chest as it sizzled.
“You’ll pay for this, son of Hades.”
