Page 37 of A Deeper Blue
“No. OK, yes. I feel a little weird.”
“I can turn around,” he offered, but his face said he was two seconds from laughing.
“Just shut up and stop being a dick,” she ordered, and he chuckled. Azure glared at him and then closed her eyes and settled onto the grass, trying to center herself. She didn’t want to look atherfuture. She wanted to look at possible futures—for the path that would get them through this, and that took a minute.
She could feel bright ribbons of possible futures stretching away from her, ghost images contained in their light. Some of the images were of her, and she tried not to look too closely at those. She turned her palms up on her knees and let the invisible ribbons slip through her fingers, trying to feel the weight of each, looking forthe one.She knew when she found the right future—it felt heavy in her hand. Heavier than it should. She followed it and realized that there was more than getting past the Warlocks tied up in this one. The summit was at the end of it. The success of the summit depended on this moment. She traced the ribbon back to the Warlocks, and for a moment, she teetered on the edge of the black hole that consumed their hearts. There were flashes of their pasts inside the blackness. The things they had done to their own people, let alone to hers, made her want to puke. Rape, murder, and what they did to a tree sprite she wished she could unknow. She battled a wave of nausea and pulled back, focusing back on her path. She could see the spells she would need, and she could see what Rafe would have to do. She took a nervous breath and opened her eyes.
“We’re going to have to fight them,” she said. Then she swallowed hard and met his eyes. “We’ll have to kill some of them.”
He nodded as if he had already known that answer. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“We can still lose,” she said. “We could die. This isn’t guaranteed.”
“Nothing ever is.”
“OK,” she said. “I need a few minutes to prep some spells. We’ll go down to the road. I’ll get off the bike. You let me deal with the magic.”
“And I’ll deal with the rest,” he said, nodding again.
“It’s not a great plan.”
“Battle plans usually aren’t,” he said. “People think it’s cleverness and moving people around like a football game. And, sure, there’s some of that. But in the end, the plan is to get in front of the other guy and kill him.”
“Are you sure you’re all right with that?” she asked.
“I’ve done it before. Are you going to be OK with it?”
She looked back at the Warlocks on the road and remembered the inky blackness where their hearts should have been. “I can see what they’ve done,” she said. “I’m not going to cry over them.”
Azure felt strangely calm as they rounded the curve and pulled onto the straight section of the road. They were in a bit of dip between hills. Grass and scotch broom covered the sides of the road before fir and pine trees rose in towering lines on either side of them. The Warlocks were sprawled on either side of the road. She had never worked magic against another human before—not in a direct conflict. Part of her was apprehensive that she could do what was necessary. But another part of her, the part that was zinging with a fizz of anticipation, wanted to know how good she actually was. Azure had trained and studied magic all of her life. How good was she really?
“They’ll start with guns,” said Rafe as she slipped off the back of the bike. He reached back pulled the Lady’s sword out, putting it in front of him. “I can take a few bullets, so don’t panic if everything doesn’t go exactly to plan.”
She smiled and kissed him. She was never going to let that happen.
“Let’s do this,” she said. Rafe grinned and revved the motor.
Azure watched as the bike roared away from her. She anchored her feet, wishing she were on dirt instead of asphalt, but the earth was there beneath her, even with a skin over the top. The Warlocks didn’t bother to get on their bikes. Instead, one of the Warlocks made some angry hand gestures, and three men ran out into the road, guns in their hands.
Azure muttered her incantation and blew outward in one long sustained breath. A golden sparkle left her lips and raced ahead of Rafe. As the golden wind hit the Warlocks, each gun misfired, exploding in their hands. They screamed, and before they could recover, Rafe was already on them. He lifted his sword and hacked at two of them. Then he made a sharp turn and came back for another pass. The last one ran for the side of the road. He hit the dirt, and Azure felt her Fae magic rise up. She swatted him back onto the road just in time to get hit by Rafe, who sliced him in half.
She saw the Warlocks on the side of the road pull back in shock. One or two of them turned as if to get on their bikes. But the tall thin man who had sent the first group out slapped at them. They cowered away from him, clearly more afraid of him than Rafe. Rafe u-turned again, pointing back toward the Warlocks. This time, the head Warlock, his pale blond hair greased tight to his head, but brushing his shoulders, marshaled the remaining men onto the road. Azure saw that they were in knots of three, each group had their hands together, and she recognized the start of a spell circle. Their leader appeared to be guiding all three groups. Most of the bikers had the well-padded look of sedentary men who preferred drinking to working, but he was tall and gaunt as if his life had pared away all the fat. She watched the others making their spells with clumsy hands while the leaders moved with assurance. Azure realized that no matter what happened next that he was the one they had to worry about.
The group on the left had a black cloud forming over them. Azure felt the power of the Earth running under the road, and she pulled it aside like a curtain. A sinkhole formed in the pavement, and the group tumbled into it with screams, their cloud of magic breaking. Rafe concentrated on the middle group, and he swept down on them just as they raised their cloud.
“Briseadh!”Azure punched her fist outward as she yelled the activation word, and the black cloud shattered as if it were made of glass. Rafe made three sharp cuts and sailed through the group. One limped away, but two were on the pavement.
Azure held her breath as Rafe turned the bike, driving slowly back toward her and the remaining band of Warlocks. Their leader stepped forward, raising a cloud of magic on his own. Azure dug deep into the trees on either side of the road, and she felt them hand over their magic as if they were eager to join in the fight.
The leader’s flaxen hair whipped out around his face as he brought the cloud down like a hammer. It slammed into Azure’s shield, and Azure felt the echoes of it vibrate through her magic and her bones. She held out her hands, palms up, pleased to see that they weren’t shaking. The black cloud of magic ground into her shield as she raised her hands higher. She could feel the anger and venom sliding and scraping along her spell, looking for entry. Rafe was still driving slowly toward the Warlock working the spell, but the remaining three started to shift uncomfortably. Then they began to run to their bikes.
“Now, baby,” she whispered, and Rafe gunned the bike. The sword he’d been keeping low at his side was suddenly up and shining in the dawn light.
Azure slapped her raised hands sideways and clapped them together, and her spell folded inward, momentarily trapping the heavy cloud of magic inside. The Warlock yelled in anger, pulling back, and Azure staggered forward but then braced herself. This was her world, and that was her man. This asshole didn’t get to hurt either.
The Warlock yelled again, his voice heavy with anger and thick with his nasty variety of magic. Azure held the spell, digging in. One part of her was terrified, but another roared in triumph as she realized she was in control. One of the bikers ran forward, hastily bringing out a shotgun. Rafe hit him hard, swinging his sword through the barrel of a shotgun and the man’s arm. The man screamed in horror, and the Rafe sliced through his neck, even as the bike leapt forward. Finally, he was in striking distance of the leader. The bike roared. Or maybe that was Rafe. She couldn’t tell.
The Warlock dug deep and yanked hard on his spell. Azure waited a half-second longer and then let go, letting the magic snap back on him. He staggered and went down on one knee. There were four bikers left, and they surged forward, trying to pull Rafe off his bike. Rafe blew by them and swung for the leader.
