Page 46 of Cursed
“Kinsley?” he said into his headset, on high alert for whatever the coven might attempt next.
“There’s a bunch of Vernon’s mob guys out here. Sorry, taking a lot to hold them off. Some have magic. They sent an exhaustion spell toward us. We blocked it, but it took a toll. Tristan is siccing most of the ghosts on Vernon and some of them against the toughs. We’re sending you all we can and still hold off the goons. Good luck,” she said before her feed went silent.
That meant reinforcements inside the plant weren’t coming soon.
Fire streaked toward Seth, and he barely threw himself to the ground in time to avoid it. Caden shot toward the fire’s origin.
“Got him!” Caden shouted.
“Stop the rest of his coven. We’ll handle Vernon.” Teag’s voice came across the earpiece. With Evan’s life on the lineas well as Pax’s, Seth hated not going after the witch-disciple directly, but he knew Teag and Rowan had a much better chance.
Four of the witches were still at large, and while Kinsley’s draining spell might be sapping their power, they still remained a danger.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Vernon taunted. Although he had Pax in position for the ritual, Vernon hadn’t started the magic yet, distracted by their attack. Vernon had conjured a smaller warding over himself and Pax, a faintly glowing translucent dome. Teag loosened one of the stored energy knots on his belt and sent a wave of magic toward the warding, which lit up as it intercepted the threat. Rowan followed up a moment later with a strike in a different color of light, a concerted effort to wear down Vernon’s protections.
Outside, the rain pounded on the factory’s roof, and the wind howled, echoing in the large, mostly empty building.
Seth called on one of the memorized spells Rowan taught him, a “parasite” incantation that leeched power from another mage’s casting. A blue spot appeared on Vernon’s dome like mold on cheese, draining magical energy.
Before Vernon had a chance to react, Seth sent a second small spell, this time to cause heat. A red spot appeared next to the blue one, using its power to increase the temperature inside.
Seth knew that something as small as a burr could make a horse buck its rider, and gambled that minor destructive spells, taken together, could help breach Vernon’s protections.
At least it will force him to deal with the annoyance, and that means he can’t start the ritual.
He took comfort in knowing that whatever else Vernon might do to use the weather against their allies outside, he didn’t dare use lightning in a factory full of old boxes and flammable residue.
Before the audio connection ended, Seth had heard the musical spell Evan and Tony wove. Now, he imagined that he felt an outside force buoy his energy, giving him strength to conjure more magic to keep Vernon distracted.
The red spot and the blue spot disappeared from the dome, but Seth sent a freeze cantrip that would make the temperature inside Vernon’s protected area plummet from the sweltering heights of the heat spell. He silently apologized to Pax for the discomfort, but figured if the other man lived through the ordeal, he was likely to forgive Seth the inconvenience.
Rowan cast salvo after salvo against the warding to weaken its walls. Seth suspected that Teag drew on extra energy stored in the braided and knotted cords that hung from his belt, part of his Weaver magic.
Seth was so fixed on attacking the dome that he didn’t see one of Vernon’s coven break from his hiding place until a blast of magic hit and sent him reeling.
He hurled a throwing knife, pegging the witch in the throat. Blood gushed, soaking the man’s shirt, and the witch fell back.
Seth felt certain that without his protective amulets, the magical attack would have stopped his heart. He took cover, trying to catch his breath, drawing from the tide of energy supplied by the music Evan and Tony played.
Teag spared a glance to assure that Seth wasn’t dead, but didn’t pause his incantation. Rowan’s cold blasts of magic struck the dome again and again.
Seth forced himself to his feet and spotted one of Vernon’s witches circling behind Rowan. The witch saw him first and called out a word of power, opening a gash on Seth’s left arm as if he had struck with a blade.
Seth fired his gun, and the shot echoed like thunder in the old building. Magic didn’t save the coven member from a spelled bullet intended to incapacitate, but not kill. Seth paused longenough to tie his sleeve around the gash to stanch the bleeding before he returned to the hunt. They would collect the wounded and magic-neutralized witch later, to stand trial among his peers.
Kinsley’s draining spell against Vernon’s witches may have taken away their most powerful magic, but what remained could be just as deadly.
Seth glimpsed Tristan slipping inside the old plant. His light-blond hair was wild and windblown. Seth moved silently and saw another witch bloodied but still fighting. Just as he leveled his gun, a tide of ghosts surged forward, surrounding the witch who screamed as they clawed him to pieces. Teag flinched, but never stopped repeating his litany.
Thanks, Tristan. Eleven down—one to go.
Seth hoarded his memorized spells for when they would make the most impact because he could only use them once each. He knew better than to try to shoot through the dome. The bullet was likely to ricochet, introducing a new danger.
Vernon’s feeding the storm to keep the protectors outside occupied. He’s maintaining the dome and the curse on Evan. He’s lost all but one of his coven. Nash’s ghosts knocked out the anchor, and Tristan is sending a mob of ghosts against him, so even if Vernon beats us, he can’t draw on its power to protect himself and work the spell. He’s got to know that we’ve won, but he won’t surrender.
Another scream rang out as a storm of angry ghosts got their vengeance. “That’s the last of the witches,” Caden said through the earpiece.
“Give it up,” Seth shouted to Vernon as Rowan and Teag focused their magic on breaking the warding. “It’s over.”
