Page 23 of Mayhem and Ember

I pulled on the size twelve boots Ember was certain would fit, nodding my approval when they did. Her talent would be useless most of the time, but it had come in handy today. Rising, I prepared to make my escape when Ember stormed into the living room.

She wore baggy pants, which, from my six hours with the television, I had learned were called sweats. A cropped t-shirt left her midsection exposed, and she tucked her disheveled purple hair behind her ear before stepping into the combat-style boots she’d left by the door.

“What happened out there?” she asked.

“How would I know? I’ve been inside the entire time.”

“Ever heard of a window?” She yanked a cord, raising the blinds and filling the room with pale morning light. “Shit. And Patrice is twenty minutes away. Ash, guys, let’s go.”

The others filed out of the hall, stumbling as they put on shoes and strapped weapons to their bodies. “What’s going on?” Shade asked as he tied his blond hair back in a band.

“Someone is bleeding out on the street.” Ember pointed at me. “You stay here.”

I laughed. “Not a chance.”

She made a face at my brother, her mouth tight, her eyes strained.

“I will watch him.” Chaos motioned toward the door.

Her mouth twitched as she blew out a hard breath. “Cloak us the second we step outside, Shade. Sound too. Ash, grab a couple bottles of shadow in case we have to split up.”

Her sister did as she was told, and we hurried down the stairs and out the back door, my heart pumping with an excitement I hadn’t felt in centuries.

Natural fog blanketed the ground outside, but as I stepped onto the sidewalk, another mist gathered around us, turning the already-desaturated world into shades of gray. Fire, healing, shadow magic… What did Miles bring to the team, I wondered. With his stormy gray eyes and jet-black hair, I would guess he could control some type of energy. Lightning, perhaps?

We exited the alley behind the witches’ home and followed the path toward the one responsible for the scream. A crowd had gathered around the woman, making it difficult to see her injuries.

The witches paced the perimeter in search of the culprit while Ash attempted to peer through the crowd. “Do you sense anything demonic?” she asked my brother.

He inhaled deeply, searching the area for the telltale low vibration, and I did the same. “Nothing,” he said before looking at me.

“I agree. It’s probably a case of human-on-human violence. They rarely need much coaxing from our kind.”

Sirens wailed in the distance, and the other witches returned to the scene. “Shade, uncloak me so I can elbow my way through the crowd,” Ember said.

There was no need for that. I called on my mind power, bringing it to the surface after four hundred years of inactivity. The base of my skull buzzed with power…what people in this century called electricity…and I sent my magic toward the two men standing closest to us.

The one in blue turned to the one in brown and landed a punch to his jaw. Brown fought back, slamming his fist into Blue’s stomach, and the crowd backed away, giving the men room to brawl and the witches ample space to examine the victim.

“Chaos!” Ember snapped, her jaw tightening.

He raised his hands in a show of innocence before pointing at me. “I cause confusion. He causes violence.”

She glared at me, a mesmerizing fire sparking in her eyes. “Stop it right now. This is not how we operate.”

I pulled my magic away from the men and focused it on a woman. She slapped the man standing next to her. Ash and Miles kneeled by the bloody victim on the ground, finally having room to reach her, thanks to me.

Ember drew her sword, clutching it in both hands, her teeth never parting as she spoke. “Turn it off now.”

I arched a brow. “Make me.”

The witch had the audacity to swing. Her actions caught me off-guard, and I didn’t step out of the way in time. The razor-sharp edge nicked my arm, making blood pool in the shallow wound.

Astonishment and irritation mixed with a strange feeling of admiration. I could have forced her to turn on her friends in that instant, yet she straightened her spine and held her head high as if she actually thought she could vanquish me.

“Is that all you’ve got?” I teased.

“Enough.” Chaos laid a hand on my shoulder. “Save it for the fae.”

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