Page 47 of Chaos
Gabriel flicked his wrists, and ropes bound the warlock’s hands. Balthazar tackled him, and they both crashed into this expensive vase that was in the foyer. Fuck. That thing was ugly as fuck. I hated it, but it was centuries old and the board felt the need to put it on display here. I hoped they didn’t take that out of my paycheck.
The warlock broke the ropes and had Balthazar by the neck, trying to keep his fangs away from him. His mouth was still free to chant. I heard the incantation he was trying to call, and it was forbidden, even in times of war. I tried to call for someone to knock him out before he could finish, but it sucked all the air out of my lungs. I couldn’t breathe anymore.
I fell to my knees, clutching my throat. We all were except Reyson. He must have been right about witch magic not affecting him. He walked straight over to the warlock and kicked him in the head. The warlock went limp, and I gulped air as it returned to my lungs.
Reyson slung him over his shoulder as we all struggled to get to our feet. Balthazar had a black eye forming, and the vase had cut his cheek. He had accelerated healing as a vampire, and the wound was already knitting itself closed, but he had blood running down his cheek.
“That went well,” Balthazar said, brushing his trousers off.
Reyson was looking at me in total adoration.
“Ripley is a warrior. It was an enormous turn on watching you beat on this warlock, my witch.”
“You know what? He pissed me off. Balthazar and Gabriel are right. Reyson needs to have a little fun with this one.”
Felix slipped his hand in mine.
“Are you sure? Do you really want his spirit here when this is over?”
“He doesn’t deserve it, but we can give him the rites and bury him in the garden. I don’t want him or his spirit here longer than needed.”
Felix lifted my bruised knuckles to his lips and kissed them.
“Then, I support you.”
Reyson bounced the warlock on his shoulder in impatience.
“Let’s get this thing to the atrium. I don’t like the way his soul feels. The sooner I get the information out of him, the sooner we don’t have to deal with him anymore.”
I used to be all about using magic responsibly. I’d used it to defend myself, but never to kill and never to gain anything I didn’t need. My, how I’d changed. The truth potion would have technically gotten the job done unless his deal with the demon had a way around it.
I didn’t trust that it didn’t with his aura being what it was. I would let Reyson do it his way knowing it would kill the warlock.
Chapter 37
Reyson
I
flung the filthy warlock into one of the chairs in the atrium. Felix snapped his fingers and bound him with way more rope than was necessary. Gabriel conjured a roll of something silver and placed it over the warlock’s mouth. We didn’t need him doing any more nasty incantations to hurt anyone in the room. The likelihood of him waking before I was done was slim. I held back when I kicked him just enough not to kill him, but hard enough to make my point. He tried to kill my witch.
First things first. Ripley was absolutely magnificent, punching him in the face. His lip was busted open, but she cut her knuckles on his teeth. I could not abide by that, even if I were proud of her for taking her vengeance.
I ignored the nasty warlock and walked over to my witch. This could wait two seconds. Felix had already kissed her bruised and bleeding knuckles, but I could do better and heal her. I brushed my lips over her knuckles and watched the shock pass over her face. I told her I’d never use my magic on her. I intended to keep that promise, but I’d make an exception when it came to healing her.
She flexed her hand in front of her face, then flung herself at me. Before I knew it, she was kissing me. If I had known healing her would get her tongue down my throat, I would have scanned her for simple body aches and done away with them.
She tasted amazing. Her magic mingled pleasantly with mine. I wanted to keep doing this. I wanted to carry her back to her bedroom and ravage her. But baby steps for now. We had to deal with this warlock. I set her down and tucked one of her black curls behind her ears. She caressed my cheek and looked at me so fondly. Progress.
“We all would have died back there if it weren’t for you. That spell is forbidden.”
“I’d never let any of you die. Now, back to this warlock. He’s a bad, dangerous man. His soul is heavily tainted, and it’s more than just his deals with demons.”
“Probably worse than my relative was, and this fucker isn’t even in jail.”
I hadn’t touched him yet, but I knew why.
“A soul doesn’t get this dark without being stopped one way or the other without some sort of intervention. Sometimes, my family would protect dark souls like this for a time because we needed them. But you can bet when they weren’t, we got rid of them. Even with my family’s protection, we never allowed a soul to get this black. This is a demonic influence. He made a very evil deal.”
