Page 43 of A Bloodline Redeemed

Mymagicswelledwithinme, ready to be directed and put to good use.All around me, I could feel my friends and lovers doing the same.Clearly the leader of the cult could sense the magic, and the rapid shift in our intentions.Her taunting smile fell, and she pointed a finger at us, shouting for her people to attack.Her words were lost to me, drown out by the pounding in my ears—my raging heart and my swelling magic.

I had fought before.Little skirmishes.Serious, yes, but nothing on this scale.This was the first time in my life I had called on my magic knowing with absolute certainty that I was going to kill someone.The leader of the cult was a dead woman walking.

The surrounding hordes of cultists and their slaves rushed us, closing the circle around us, flinging magic and brandishing weapons.The High Ophanim raised his flaming sword and his glowing wings higher and let out a blood-curdling yell that would have been right at home in some human story about apocalypse and glorious wrath.His people took to the skies, darting down to attack from above in a terrifying dance of death.But they were wildly outnumbered now.And there were powerful witches in the cult’s ranks.

The big town square in front of the SA building was a writhing mass of SA zombies, Jacki’s crew, rebels, cultists, angels, and… us—a solid core of powerful magical beings at the center of it all.I quickly thought through our options, even while half my attention was taken up by dodging magical attacks and trying to ignore the carnage that was taking place before my eyes.A severed arm rained down from above, the hand still tightly gripping a flaming sword.The flames extinguished as the limb hit the ground in front of me, the magical sword fading altogether shortly after, leaving behind an angel’s arm.

I swallowed down bile and shook off the horror.There wasn’t time to be shocked.To be soft.I needed to move.To do whatever I could to make sure the next body part I stumbled over didn’t belong to me or someone I loved.My hands shook as I crafted my first ever killing curse and lobbed it at the nearest cultist.

It struck true, catching the man by surprise as he slashed at a rebel fighter—a weaker sylph.I watched my magic steal the life from the cultist’s eyes and something inside me died with him as he crumpled to the ground.

Darkness erupted at the far side of the square, smoky black tentacles of terror unfurling from the air, reaching for misguided, power-hungry cult witches and dropping them to their knees with unhinged screams.Ambrose.

Corpses rose to face the zombies, another delicious wave of dark power reanimating the fallen cultists and turning them against their still friends—living and dead.Dyre, off to my left, his red hair rising in a wind only he could feel, his eyes gone completely black with wraith magic.

A black shape darted by me with the brush of soft fur and powerful muscle, coiled to strike.River leapt past me in Jaguar form, a deadly shadow that appeared and disappeared as he did something with time and luck magic to leapfrog through the battle, wicked claws and teeth leaving a trail of blood and death behind him.

I caught sight of Niamh and Zhong off to my right, fighting back-to-back with claw, fang, and blade, Zhong’s enormous wings sometimes darting out to knock enemies off their feet.

Elijah paced behind Dyre.His own flaming sword was drawn, but he barely had to use it, as his angelic soul magic twined with wraith power, halting people in their tracks and causing them to fall to their knees and await the killing blow.

I tore my eyes away from that, not letting myself think about how much Elijah would grieve his actions later.

Heat flared somewhere behind me, and the increased volume of the screams told me Aahil was gleefully setting people on fire with jinn flames that would consume them in seconds.

My mind was frozen.Paralyzed.I tried to recall the spells Dyre had taught me.Or ones I had learned myself over the years.Things other than the awful killing spell.Spells to stun, to cause sleep or stupor.Magic tingled in my fingertips, but the words, and gestures, and intent—the craft of spell weaving—wouldn’t come.

All I could see was the way my spell had stolen that cultist’s life.Severed body parts.Reanimated corpses.The screams as people burned alive.I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and focus.I was a Lovell, damn it.This was kind of our thing.It should be second nature.Why was I freezing up?

A spell hit my shoulder, and pain lanced through my entire body.I dropped to one knee and sucked in a sobbing breath.“Son of abitch!”I muttered, pushing myself to my feet and jumping out of the way just in time to avoid a more direct hit that I was sure I wouldn’t survive.

Focus.I had to focus.Muttering, I flung a stun spell back at the witch who had just tried to incapacitate me with pain.My spell hit and the witch fell to the ground, alive but out of the fight.I could do this.I could avoid killing.

Someone stepped on the fallen cultist, and I turned away.There was only so much I could do for people who were trying to murder us and anyone who stood between them and power.

A watery sphere filled my vision.Hasumi, shielding the twins while the weaver used their water magic to drown anyone who got too close.“Hasumi!”I shouted, moving closer to their bubble of protection.“If you can take them out of here, do it!”

“I can’t carry them both at the same time,” their fluid voice replied as the watery shield stretched out to encompass me, drawing me inside with Hasumi and the children.“I can take them one at a time.”

I met those turquoise eyes and nodded, understanding what they were asking.“I’ll put up a shield and stay with them until you can come back for the other one.”

The twins were glancing between me and Hasumi with wide, frightened eyes.The girl lifted her chin and gave me a defiant glare.“You can’t leave us here with strangers!”

Hasumi turned their focus away from the battle raging outside our watery bubble and knelt to look the twins in the eyes.“I would never leave you with strangers,” they said gravely.“But Oleander is no stranger.She is a piece of my heart.And she will protect you with everything she has.”

The little boy gripped Hasumi’s shirt sleeve and gave me a wary look before looking up at the water weaver with pleading eyes.“We can’t stay here.If the bad people get us again, they’ll suck out our magic some more.”His bottom lip wobbled and my heart clenched.

“They’ve been—” I started, but I clammed up when Hasumi met my eyes and gave me a sad, curt nod.“Goddess damn them all to the hells,” I muttered.The cultists had somehow been stealing these kids’ magic—their innate spark.All question ofhowthey’d managed that aside… it was beyond foul.

“Hasumi, you have to get them out of here,” I said again, anger lacing my voice.“Take them someplace safe, and stay with them until this is over.”

The water weaver nodded.“I can only take one of you at a time,” they said calmly to the children, as if a war wasn’t waging outside our little bubble.“We will find a safe place, and I will come back for the other one.One of you will have to come with me and wait alone for a moment while I come back to fetch your sibling.And one of you will have to wait here with Andy until I can come back for you.”

The little girl squared her shoulders and stepped forward almost immediately, her chin held high, and fire in her eyes.Goddess, she was scrappy.It made me want to hug her so hard.Made me want to promise this precious little thing that no one would ever hurt her again.Not on my fucking watch.

“I’ll go first,” she said as bravely as she could, only a little tremble in her voice giving away her fear.“Sky doesn’t like to be alone.”

Hasumi smiled softly at her and nodded.Then they reached out a hand.“Come then, Moon.I will be as quick as I can.”

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