Page 45 of A Lost Light

I didn't trust Belladonna Lovell, not really. I believed her intentions were good. She really did want to stop this conflict and protect the oppressed magic users. I believed she did care for her little sister. But I also saw something more in her. In many ways she was like Oleander. But in a few, very subtle, but very important ways, they differed greatly.

There was more of her family in Belladonna. She had been raised by them until nearly mature, whereas Andy had only been under their care for a few short years. Maybe that was why I could sense a darkness in Belladonna that I didn't sense in Andy. A bitterness. A slyness. I didn’t think she purposefully endeavored to hurt or betray our witch, or anyone else for that matter… but still, there was something there. Some feeling that told me she would be far more likely to push the boundaries of right and wrong.

Or to use people to achieve her end goals.

Oleander was confused about why we were here tonight. Why we were called in for this seemingly simple scuffle with the cult, when the rebel magic users were more than capable of protecting one aging witch and his wife. But I knew better.

It was a test. They were watching us.Belladonnawas watching us. Seeing what her sister would do. How we would react. Maybe trying to gauge just how powerful we really were. She still wanted us to be her superheroes, the flashy public face of her rebellion. Even if Andy had done nothing but refuse her.

I couldn't fault the older Lovell sister. Sometimes a bit of stubborn ruthlessness was the only way to achieve your goals—or to trap your prey. I didn't disagree with her goals, or her assessment that the only thing these people would listen to was power. But I worried that Andy—that my new clan—would be harmed in the witch's mission to change the world.

If Andy sought to throw off the burden of her family name by hiding and making herself small, Bella seemed to have chosen a completely different method of escaping the family name—by demanding respect.

I suppose we'd see who was right in the end.

For now, my only goal was to keep Oleander safe while we hunted the cult.

The quiet around me slowly turned to stillness. The soft breeze picked up, and a ripple of disquiet flowed through me. My sharp eyes searched the shadows around the mansion where we now lurked, our people interspersed with rebels, just waiting for the attack.

No one had notified the stupid councilor of the impending danger, for fear he'd haveusarrested instead of the true villains. He would need proof of our claims. Which he would get soon, if the shifting currents around me were any indication.

Aahil slid up beside me, heat radiating from his lithe, compact body. “Air,” he murmured, his sensual voice barely a whisper on the rising breeze. “Their jinn is an air elemental.”

I nodded in acknowledgement, and he slipped away, probably to notify the others. We didn't have fancy gear, the way we'd had when we helped the SA against the O'Leary coven before. The rebels weren't that rich or well-supplied. And technology could always be used against you. This time, we relied on magic and stealth.

I braced myself for action, my own magic boosting my senses, bringing me the scent and sound of approaching witches. I gripped my twin knives in my hands, tensed to spring. Then the fight began.

There was a flash like lightning. In between one blink of darkness and the next, the yard was filled with a dozen witches, all clad in black, moving together in a rehearsed dance as they rushed toward the mansion. Someone sensed us, and they sent up a cry of caution, but it was too late.

Andy, Belladonna, and Dyre had created a circle around the house. Such a large casting would normally require an entire coven, but they threw up the barrier with ease. Two Lovells and a necromancer harboring an ancient wraith… the cultists didn't stand a chance.

The magic around us buzzed, arching up and overhead, enclosing the entire property in a bubble of silence and invisibility that hid us from the rest of the world. At the same time, the magic pressed downward, suppressing and slowing all magic that wasn't tied to one of the powerful witches who’d cast the barrier. It slid over me and the rest of my family, thanks to our bonds with Andy, and hers with Dyre. And apparently, the rebels had some link to Belladonna which protected them as well, leaving us all free to use our magic at will.

I didn't dwell on what it might mean that Bella had linked the rebels to her, or how she might manipulate that bond. There wasn't time.

Lunging out of my crouch beneath the flowering bushes, I rose and swiftly dispatched an enemy witch who had his back to me. His blood flowed warm and primal over my hands as I slid one blade across his throat and the other into his side. I stepped away, withdrawing my knives, and whirled to dodge a ball of magic that streamed my way, thrown by one of his companions.

I kept my senses open, as much of my attention as I could spare on the thread of connection that bound me and Andy together. I had to focus on the fight, but I needed to know she was well.

A massive black cat flew through the air in front of me, a sleek, dark form that was barely perceptible in the night. A woman screamed, then went silent as the cat tore out her throat. I grinned, baring my fangs as I followed the cat, fighting by his side to clear our area.

Flames burst to life across the way, and several witches screamed as their lives were snuffed out by jinn flames.

Only moments had passed, and already the cult had nearly been eliminated. Hardly a challenge at all. I straightened to survey the situation as I wiped my slick blades on my pants. Then the wind picked up.

Chapter 26

Elijah

My morals and priorities had changed quite a bit since my death, imprisonment, and subsequent freedom and rebirth, but… still, the brutality around me was hard to accept.

And yet, I had a feeling that things were going to get a whole lot worse before they improved. Before the rebels put a stop to this attempt to cause a war.

I kept one eye on Andy and the other on Dyre, feeling pulled in two different directions the entire time, even as I punched cultists and shaped my innate magic into spells that would incapacitate, rather than kill. I didn't look behind me to see whether the people I put down were left unconscious, or killed by the rebels who followed.

As much as I wanted to keep my conscience clean and at least some small partof my soul untarnished, thiswasa battle and one that could prevent much greater casualties.

The cultists were quickly dispatched, and it became very apparent that this was no challenge for our little group of outcasts. But then the wind picked up, carrying with it the tasteof magic, something that reminded me vaguely of Aahil, but cool and fluid, rather than fiery and consuming. Jinn.

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