Page 68 of Commanding Chaos

Ember turned over Shade’s arm. “Can you neutralize this?”

“No. It’ll have to wear off on its own.” I gave Chaos a look, telling him to calm the eff down. He took a deep breath and blew it out hard, but he relaxed. A little.

“I thought Shade was a better fighter.” We spun around to find Miles emerging from the bedroom.

He wore a black cloak with the hood pulled down low, casting his face in shadow. Strolling into the room like he owned the space, he made a tsk sound and stopped in front of Chaos. “If you want to see your brother again, you’ll kill these witches and come with me.”

My mouth hung open, so I snapped it shut. Miles was the villain in this horror movie? Sweet, quiet, helpful Miles?

“Where is Mayhem?” Chaos growled and clutched his robe, twisting it in his hand.

Miles let out a sinister laugh and flung his arm toward me. A blast of energy knocked me backward into the bookcase, collapsing the shelves. Powdered charcoal rained onto my head, billowing around me in a black cloud.

Shade’s eyes fluttered open, and he wheezed out an incantation in English. His magic struck me a half-second before another blast from Miles would have rendered me unconscious. The charcoal activated, absorbing the magic and shielding me from the hit.

His eyes rolled back, and he passed out again.

Chaos roared and set Miles’s robe ablaze. Hellfire rolled over him. He screamed and flailed, his robe disintegrating in the flames, revealing fireproof clothing beneath. His bare arms blistered, but I caught a glimpse of purple glow before the skin deformed.

“Stop!” I commanded.

Chaos obeyed instantly, extinguishing the flames but keeping a tight grip on his fireproof shirt. “Where. Is. Mayhem?”

“You’ll never know if you kill me,” he ground out.

I rummaged in my bag for the magical burn salve I always carried. Yes, I had accidentally burned more than cemeteries in my twenty-four years. It was why I rarely used my fire. I slathered the salve onto his forearm while his feet still dangled in the air, and sure enough, the same sigil as the one on Shade marred his skin.

“What the hell?” Ember gripped her sword in both hands and peered into the bedroom. “Who else is in there?”

Miles spoke in Latin, a black ball forming between his hands. Chaos gripped his throat, but he flung out the energy, knocking all three of us from our feet. We careened back in different directions, smacking the walls in unison. My head hit the shelf, making my vision swim.

“The mark is their connection.” Chaos hurled a fireball at Miles, but his clothes absorbed the flames. “He is the one controlling Shade.”

Ember screamed like a Valkyrie and plowed toward him. He dropped to the ground and kicked out, knocking her off her feet and landing a punch to her back. She groaned.

I played dead while Chaos went still, using his silent power to scramble Miles’s mind.

Miles tilted his head, another sinister laugh emanating from his throat. “You don’t think I prepared for your magic, demon?”

I whispered the molasses spell and hurled a handful of dust at him. His eyes widened, his enlarged pupils shrinking to their normal size as his movement slowed to a sloth’s pace.

“I guess you didn’t plan for mine.” I stood and brushed the charcoal from my hair. My entire body ached. Stabbing pains pulsed in my back, arms, and neck, and whatever vim I had left retreated deep inside my being. I wasn’t just spent. I was in magical debt.

Ember moaned and rolled to her side before pushing up to sit, clutching her head.

A growl rumbled in Chaos’s chest. “The moment we find Mayhem, this witch is dead.”

“We need to tie him up.” I unplugged an extension cord that lined a wall and handed it to Ember. “That spell won’t last long. I barely had the vim to cast it.”

She stood and shoved him into a chair before wrapping the cord around his wrists and securing him to the seat. I rummaged through the kitchen drawers and found a roll of duct tape. I wrapped it around his chest and the back of the chair and then secured his ankles together.

He tried to say another spell, but when the first word of Latin crossed his lips, I slapped a piece of tape over his mouth.

Chaos stomped into the bedroom, ducking in the doorway so his horns wouldn’t hit the jamb. A moment later, he stormed back out. “Where is Mayhem?”

Miles shook his head as quickly as my spell would allow, panic filling his eyes as he cut his gaze to the open front door. The sun shone into the dark hall, blinding us to the outside.

The house rumbled. The floor shook beneath our feet, the wood cracking and splitting with the violent tremors. Pictures fell from the walls, their glass frames shattering.

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