Page 23 of Hunted on Halloween

The shield took one last hit before it collapsed around her feet. This was it; whatever Esmer was sending at her was going to destroy Tia. Out of the corner of one eye, Tia caught an apparition that materialized to stand beside her.

Tia’s mouth hung open because beyond reason she knew the woman who was standing beside her was Tieran’s mother. The woman smiled at her and started moving her hands. Tia copied every move, meeting Esmer’s darkness with gold-fire.

Her gold-fire canceled Esmer’s darkness out. Tia could hear in her mind a soft voice whisper,“This fight won’t be won with magic. Witchling, both worlds must be represented.”That was the moment Tia realized that she would love Tieran’s mother and wished that she was still alive so they could get to know each other.

Continuing to copy the hand movements of the apparition, Tia manifested a whip of flame. It cut through the darkness that Esmer sent at her. The whip reached out to grab Esmer’s wrist. Tia used the whip to pull Esmer off balance, but that didn’t stop the darkness that had already been sent from singeing Tia’s and searing her skin.

Tia felt like she’d been in a desert for days with no water and no protection against the sun. She used that whip as an anchor to drag Esmer closer to her. She whispered thank you to Tieran’s mother. Then Esmer was close enough for Tia to let go of the whip and jump on top of her.

She was acting like it was a good old-fashioned bar fight, but only one of them was going to leave the bar alive. Tia cocked her arm back and punched Esmer in the face, watching as her jaw swelled. Esmer bucked, tossing Tia to the side.

Esmer got up, kicking and screaming at Tia. She threw blow after blow, landing punches to Tia’s stomach as she got off the floor. Tia responded by doing the same. Esmer threw herself at Tia, taking them back to the floor. They rolled over and over throwing punches.

Tia’s hair was yanked back with brutal force, pain shooting down her scalp. She twisted, retaliating with clawed fingers, raking them across Esmer’s face. A sharp scream cut through the chaos, but she didn’t stop. Insults flew, vicious and biting words that would make her mother’s face burn red.

Tia fought harder, teeth clenched, adrenaline surging. Every punch, every scratch fueled by raw survival. But then her breath caught. In a blur, Esmer’s hand moved. And from thin air, a gleaming knife materialized.

Tia’s heart skipped.

Everything around her slowed as her eyes locked onto the blade.

“Seriously,” Tia said, anger poured into every word. “Did you bring a knife to a witch fight?” Tia looked at Tieran’s mother, who was standing to the side, watching her like she was giving the benediction on the fight of the century. Her mouth tilted in a half smile as if to say she could do it. Now it was up to Tia.

“You know what they say?” Tia said before rolling away before Esmer could shove that knife deep into her heart. When she moved her hands this time, it was without the help of her mother-in-law. She pulled a sword out of thin air. Beautiful. It pulsed with a red, gold, and white light.

“The world you’re in is dead,” Esmer snarled, running at Tia.

Tia hefted the sword, her hands tightening around the hilt as the weight of it settled. With a fierce swing, she aimed. Esmer lunged at the same moment, the knife flashing as it drove into Tia’s side. Pain exploded, but Tia didn’t hesitate. Gritting her teeth, she brought the blade down in a single, powerful arc. The steel sliced clean through, and Esmer’s head toppled to the ground, the witch’s body crumpling in its wake.

Tia staggered back, the sword still gripped tight, blood soaking her side as Esmer’s lifeless form hit the dirt.

Ding dong the witch is dead, but it didn’t feel like a victory to her. She had done the right thing, but it made her a killer all the same. The apparition became solid, walking over to Tia as she dropped the sword. She glanced over at her mate, realizing that he and Bryce weren’t moving.

“I stopped time. As the power within you matures, you will do this, too. I wanted to spend a minute or two with you before I had to leave.” She reached out and touched Tia’s side, stopping the flow of blood and encouraging the muscle and tissue to heal.

“Thank you,” Tia gave a sigh of relief. Her mother-in-law looked at her with love-filled eyes and nodded.

“There are certain things you won’t find in history books. The humans thought that if they could erase the fact that they andthe Vargari spent time together they could paint us as monsters from their dreams, and that gave them a right to take our world.”

“The veil has always been one that has thickened and thinned and there have always been humans and Vargari’s that could go back and forth. There were mixed children living in both worlds until the necrotechs decided that the world they couldn’t see was greener than their world, and they were right. They raped this world, leaving nothing but large monuments to their cleverness that were slowly choking them to death.”

“Love my son, and give him all of my love,” Tieran’s mother said, giving Tia a fierce hug full of love. “I have a wayward husband to track down and you, your mate, and the wolf have a curse to break.” Tia’s mother-in-law disappeared and time was restored. Tieran was at her side before she realized he had moved.

“Where’s my mother?” Tieran asked.

“She’s gone,” Tia told him. “Your mom told me to give you all the love that she has.” Tia reached up and hugged her mate, kissing him on his cheeks and his forehead and even his eyes like his mother would have done when he was a little boy.

“That sounds like something my mother would say.” He looked at his watch. “We don’t have much time left.” He brought his wrist up for Tia to see the watch.

It was two-forty-five in this world. They had fifteen minutes and counting. Tia stepped over Esmer’s body and moved to the vault doors. How were they going to get in? She tugged on the door.

Nothing happened. There was a wheel on the door. She turned it and heard it click.

Then she pulled. The door opened. Surprised, she looked at Tieran.

“Why wouldn’t they lock the door?" Tia asked.

"They’d never believed that you could get past the witch on the floor.” Tia’s eyes went to Esmer and then traveled to her head, sitting a couple of feet from her body. Her mate was right.

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