Page 39 of The Magic of Destiny
Everything clicked into place, my movements becoming measured and otherworldly. With a sharp swing, I lobbed the demon's tail off and flashed away. Looking to Fischer, I let out an involuntary “fuck” when I found him standing there looking like the devil incarnate. Motionless, with dead black eyes, his palms up in front of him as black magic poured from his mouth, nose, and ears. It swirled down his arms, forming a cyclone in his hands.What in the name of Saturn's snails...
Four guards were storming toward him; they were nearly there.
“Fischer!” I bellowed. “Snap out of it!” A hand enclosed around my wrist and I turned with a snarl, lunging for the throat of my enemy. He dropped, but I was quickly surrounded. My head wasn't in it—I was too focused on the sitting duck situation my idiot brother had gotten himself into.
I punched, kicked, and hacked down everyone who got close enough, but it was like they just kept coming. A burning sensation ripped through my arm, and I roared. Not from the pain, but because I was fucking pissed. Something deep within my soul vibrated, as though my inner beast was rattling the gates of Hell to be set free.
“You're all dead,” I vowed. My eyes shifted from the wound on my arm to my brother. The blackness in his eyes receded for a fleeting moment, and that was all it took. Our magic collided, and every demon in the vicinity froze in place as Fischer's black magic exploded from him like a supersonic boom. Some fucker must've fired a gun just beforehand because three bullets were mere inches from Fish's face. As the men around us collapsed to the floor, I darted to my brother, plucking a bullet from the air.What the hell?
I sensed him then. Flicking my gaze from Fish's grim expression, I looked down the hallway and saw Bram, his hands held out in front of him. When he dropped them, the other two bullets hit the ground with a ping.
“Looked like you boys needed an extra hand,” he called, striding toward us.
“Fucking hell,” Fischer breathed. “That was close.”
“Tell me about it! What the hell were you thinking, going into a trance like that?” I slapped him on the shoulder.
“My magic took over, I don't know what happened,” he admitted, looking freaked the hell out. Fischer was always calm, quiet, and collected, so seeing him out of control was freakingmethe hell out.
I turned to Bram. “Where are the others?”
“Just down the hall. Khol figured out how to get that fuckin' siren to shut up, but clearly our presence is already known,” he said ominously.
“I'm going to see what they've found. We need to get into that room,” Fish grumbled, walking away.
Bram studied my face. I noticed there was a spray of blood across his forehead, making his freckles pop against the crimson color.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, stepping closer and lifting my fingers to his face.
“No,” he said softly, taking hold of my wrist to stop me before I made contact with his skin.
“Thank you for before.” I whispered my gratitude. I was transfixed by his amber stare, and it felt like if I spoke too loudly, the moment would break. Slowly, I continued pushing my hand toward his face, and his resistance lessened.
By the moon, this man, this demon... My heart fluttered in my chest like a bird fleeing a cage.
“Bram,” I murmured, my fingertips making contact with his cheek. He didn't respond, but he didn't pull back either. Letting my hand drift lower, I couldn't stop my thumb tracing his bottom lip. A smudge of red now coated his perfectly puffy mouth, and I swallowed roughly.
“I'm glad you're okay,” he said huskily. A crease formed between his eyes as he looked down at me. Confusion? Disgust? Arousal? “Let's get in there so we can get the fuck home, hmm?”
“Ah, yeah. Right.” I stepped back, breaking whatever spell we'd been wrapped up in. “How are we getting in there?”
“We're gonna jump,” he replied, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
“Man, you mean I bit those thumbs off for no good reason? Well, they didn't work anyway, but still. It was a good idea,” I muttered grumpily, shaking my head as we walked in stride together down the hall.
“Ugh, is that what I stepped on back there? I thought it was a worm.” Bram chuckled, the sound going straight to my heart.
Gods, I'm a sappy little psycho lately. What are these people doing to me?
A roar from within the room had us running now, nearly colliding with the others as we rounded the corner.
“Let's do it,” Khol said to Bram. Saige grabbed hold of Cam and Khol, and Bram placed one of his hands in mine and the other in Fischer's. A blink later, we were inside the lab.
All of the training we'd done, the drills, the intense workouts...
Nothing could've prepared us for what was going down.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed, looking around the laboratory we'd just landed in. A huge enclosure stood in the center of the room, blocking nearly half of the lab from our view. I could feel Kai in the room, but couldn’t see him yet. From where I stood, I could see a row of sterile, stainless steel tables, reminding me of a morgue. Shivering, I took in the rows of tables covered in different chemistry tools. I spotted glass beakers and volumetric flasks filled with various liquids of all colors, some of which gave off visible steam.
