Page 106 of Livewire Witch

The answer is obvious.

“Cowards.” Ember’s voice echoes through my head and from the startled look of the people around us, I’m not the only one that heard it.

“Are all of you just going to stand there and do nothing while these things tear our city apart?” He says the words out-loud, stepping forward and staring down the room of frozen witches and mages.

He’s really hamming it up, twisting his body so that he’s visible to the cameras outside.

Putting himself in full view of the zombie.

The zombie who sniffs the air again and then staggers in Ember’s direction. Leaving me no choice at all but to step forward, out of the shadows. Just a second monster scrambles through the smashed window. This one doesn’t even seem to have any flesh to it. It’s a skeleton, advancing with jerky movements that leave my skin crawling.

I reach for the magic I’ve sealed off inside myself. It’s in a big black box, separate from all the rest and when I draw on it, it clings to me, leaving a scummy residue in its wake. I’ve noticed before how different powers feel different to wield. Nothing too obvious. Just a vague sensation. Like, illusion magic is a bit lighter, and fire magic feels like a long stretch after being cooped up for too long.

Necromancy though, feels... wrong.

Unnatural.

I draw it out of the well in my chest and focus on both monsters in front of me. I can see the web of threads connecting every person in this room. The threads are white and glowing. Connecting them tolife.

I can also see the gray threads that are connected to the two monsters. The ones that shouldn’t be there.

They’re necrotic. Rotting.

I can’t help but shudder as I grasp onto the one connected to the zombie closest to Ember. He might be in my bad books right now, but I’m not about to let him get bitten by that thing.

My magic connects with the string tethering it, and it feels like I’m sinking my arm into a pile of guts.

It’s disgusting.

So damn wrong.

Iyankat the tether and the thing collapses, like I’m its puppeteer and I’ve snipped its strings. It flops onto the floor. A pile of dust and bones.

“Little help here, Silv!” Ember yells.

I spin around in time to see the next zombie just as it lunges forward, arms outstretched like it’s trying to gut him with its skeletal fingers.

The frozen state of the room smashes to pieces as panic takes over and people flee through the double doors.

It’s chaos. There isn’t enough room and people are stampeding, trampling over each other and using their magic to batter one another out of the way.

A blast of magic bursts out of me. A wave of thunder smashes into the creature, and it collapses into a pile of bones. I draw on my necromancy and try to avoid touching the rotted threads directly, snipping at them instead so I don’t have to experience that same gross invasive feeling again. The second one drops to the ground.

I then have to pull my focus back to find the zombies elsewhere over the city.

Fuck. There are a lot of them.

I don’t hesitate as I yank, cut, and snap the gray threads. Each one feels like someone is reaching into my soul and smearing tar deep inside me. I’m going to need the longest shower in history after this.

My eyes take in the room. Despite the mass exodus, there are still a lot of people remaining who haven’t fled yet. Not through lack of trying, by the looks of their flushed faces and ripped outfits.

So many witnesses.

And that doesn’t include the cameras whose lenses are still pointing this way.

Fuck. I’m going to be a front page news item, aren’t I?

There are also three sets of eyes on me I can pick out among the rest.

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