Page 7 of Mastering Mayhem

His magic dissipated from my psyche, and I looked at Ash. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t vanquish this asshat right now, and does anyone want to help me?”

“Go for it,” she said. “He’s all yours.”

I jabbed the blade into his neck. The razor edges passed through his flesh as if he were made of margarine, severing his head with one clean stroke. My fingers still clutching Balor’s hair, I lifted my prize triumphantly.

“Mmm…” Mayhem’s growl sounded more like a purr. “You are a warrior goddess.”

Did I mention he was naked? My gaze locked on his massive package, which no longer hung freely in the breeze. His soldier stood at attention, and he licked his lips, his irises rippling like they did when he wanted to devour me.

“You might want to find some clothes.” I waved the dagger in the direction of his junk and dropped Balor’s head. It rolled, stopping face-up and blinking at me. “Holy shit. He’s not dead.”

“The only way to vanquish a Formorian is to destroy his heart.” Mayhem morphed into his human form, and his soldier finally stood at ease…ish. It was getting there, anyway. “And he has no heart to destroy.”

I forced my gaze to his eyes. “So, what then? Are we just going to leave him here, headless?”

“That would be cruel,” Miles said.

“And dangerous.” Ash set her satchel on the floor and examined the contents. “If humans come in and find him, he could still drain their energy. We can’t take that chance.”

“No, we can’t.” I spotted a shelf filled with packs of men’s undies, so I grabbed one and tossed it to Mayhem. “Put those on. It’s hard to focus with…all that.”

He chuckled and opened the pouch, pulling out a pair of dark gray boxer-briefs. With his package wrapped, I turned my attention to my sister.

“We need a spell to solidify his heart.” She lined up three herb bottles on the floor. “If we can force it to form, then we can destroy it.”

“We could do that.” I eyed the disgusting creature. “But why waste our vim?”

My palm tingled, a fireball igniting on my skin. I tipped my hand, dropping the flames onto Balor’s severed head. His hair lit up like a bonfire, and a gurgling sound emanated from his neck as his chest expanded and contracted.

“That hurts, doesn’t it?” I picked him up by the ear and dropped his head onto his body. “You picked on the wrong witch.”

I shot flames from both hands, setting his entire body ablaze. “You guys might want to step outside the room. It’s about to get hot in here.”

“It already is.” Shade squinted, lifting a hand to shield his face from the flames as he and Miles returned to the front of the store.

“I guess your way works.” Ash’s expression scrunched, and she placed the bottles in her bag before rising to her feet and adding to my flames. “Incinerate his entire body, and the molecules that would make up his heart burn too.”

“Exactly. How about a little hellfire, guys?” I shot another flame and watched the bastard burn.

His form began to melt in our witch flames, and when Mayhem and Chaos shot streams of hellfire into the fray, it crumbled. The fire raged, consuming every piece of the Formorian until nothing but a pile of opaque crystals remained.

“Good riddance.” I called my fire back and brushed my palms together as if I could dust off this entire ordeal.

“It needs to be hotter.” Mayhem grasped my elbow. “Until he turns to ash, he still exists on this plane.”

As if to prove his point, the crystals of Balor vibrated, bouncing off each other, sliding this way and that across the floor until several melded together. Another handful stuck into a clump, bubbling and making a sickening, goopy sound as they formed into a glassy eyeball. It rolled, squaring its gaze—if it could even see—on me.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I stomped the eye, squishing it beneath my boot heel.

“Again.” Mayhem shot a stream of white-hot hellfire at the remains.

“Ash!” Miles shouted from the next room. “Shade’s hemorrhaging. I need your help.”

“Gods, I miss Patrice. Can you…?” she asked.

“We’ve got this. Go.” I added my flames to Mayhem’s.

“Assist your witch,” Mayhem said to Chaos. “Ember and I will handle the beast. This is personal.”

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