Page 52 of Absolved In Death

“I smell your arousal. This is a turn on for me, too, my pretty little doll,” he rasped. “Let me catch you, and I’ll try not to hurt you.”

I turned my head to see exactly how close he was, then tripped and fell, skinning my knee on the ground. I crawled forward, but a weight on my back pinned me to the ground. Magical bindings circled my wrists, holding me tight.

“Right back to where we were this morning. I thought my favorite place to have you was over my knee, but tied up on the ground is so much better.”

“Whatcha got there?” Bash asked. I turned my head and saw him walking toward us.

“A cute little doll who was too slow and got caught. Wanna play with her?”

“I do love a good fuck-toy, Des.” Bash smirked at me.

As fun as that sounded, they could fuck off. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I willed my magic to snap the bindings,then turned into a large black raven. Desmond’s next strike barely missed me as I took flight, flying over the walls of the maze. I saw Mal below, but couldn’t find the center. Banking right, I landed in an empty hallway before changing back into myself. Thankfully, the new catsuits Quelier made for me morphed with me, so I wouldn’t be naked anymore.

I let my magic extend, the tendrils running the halls as they scanned for the presence of other magics. The coast was clear, so I turned, then went down to the end and turned again. I felt like I was walking in circles. Knowing my way was almost impossible with how dark it was.

Conjuring light risked giving my location away. But if I could morph my entire body, it wasn’t a huge jump to just morph my eyes. I stopped moving, focusing on animals that had night vision.Owls…snakes…bats…wolves…ummm, foxes…sharks.I envisioned their eyes, and felt my own painfully adapt. It stung, my vision becoming cloudy before everything came into a sharp focus as my night vision took root.

I could see everything—the black walls and magical markers on the floor included. Only the ones I passed were lit, which meant they probably alerted the guys to my location. They were playing games with me, letting me run around until they pinpointed my location. Well not anymore.

My new vision gave me an edge. Now I felt like a predator instead of prey…and would act like it. Why was I letting them hunt me when I should be hunting them?

I created a group chat of sorts with our mindlinks.

Change of plans, gentlemen. I’m hunting you now…

I took off at a run, determined to find them and make them all pay for this bullshit training exercise in the creepy basement. After a few minutes, I ran into Zaz. His black and white marbled wings were out in their full glory. They flapped at me, sendinga magically enhanced gust of wind strong enough to knock me over.

You can do better than that,I taunted him.

He lifted his hand, and a torrent of water rushed at me. I erected a shield in enough time to block it. I let my own wings pop out, their red coloring a stark contrast to his. We circled, sizing each other up. Zaz usually attacked from an aerial vantage point, so I was curious as to how he’d fight on the ground.

He closed his eyes, and an image projected in my mind. It was us, sitting in a clearing surrounded by trees. We were eating a picnic lunch, laughing at something random a third person with us had said. I didn’t know her, but she looked familiar.

I felt a piercing hit drive into my shoulder, and it knocked me down. For fuck’s sake, he shaped his magic like an arrowhead.

“How did you—” I asked, before my body started to rise. Mal stood next to him now, levitating my body into the air so I was level with the tops of the walls.

“We got her!” he shouted. Desmond and Bash faded to us, and I noticed Ares’ absence from the group. I didn’t plan on sticking around and asking where he was. I had to get myself out of this.

I have to find the center of the maze. I need to be the best, to survive what I knew was coming.

My shoulder was repairing itself, but the wound was deep. My blood seeped into the fabric of my uniform, the pain making it hard to concentrate. I had to think. How could I get out of this?

But beware, you have no allies here.

No, I didn’t have any allies here…yet. But I knew exactly who to summon. Sometimes when I thought of Feta, he appeared. One time I even called him while I was reading in bed, and he popped into the room and plunked himself next to me to snuggle. I wasn’t sure how the dog’s magic worked, but it was worth a shot.

Feta, here boy! FETA!

The guys attacked, throwing an onslaught of magic at me. My shield bounced most of it off, but I knew it would only hold for so long. I tried using my power to break Mal’s magic and morphing shapes to escape, but nothing worked.

“You want to surrender?” Desmond asked.

“Make it easy on yourself, and—OUCH, WHAT THE FUCK?!” Bash shouted as a terrifying snarl grabbed my attention. “Feta get off me!”

He sank his teeth right into Bash’s ass, ripping through the fabric of his uniform. No matter how much Bash struggled or how much magic the guys used to make Feta let go, he held on. The whole ordeal seemed so painful.

But as a wise, red headed bastard once said… All magic is fair game in war.

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