Page 59 of Looking Grimm

When Avery’s foot hit the lowest stair tread, I shouted so loud that the single word seemed to tear up my throat.

“Nash!”

I couldn’t see it from this vantage point, but I heard Nash’s bedroom door open.

“Fitch?” he called back. “What’s wrong?”

Avery’s head cocked as new knives appeared in each hand. His smile chilled me as he said softly, “That’ll do the trick.”

“Nash, don’t come down here!” I yelled.

The conjurer thrust his arm toward me with the knife blade pointed at my face. I sucked a breath as the sharp tip pricked my lower lip.

“I’m not above putting this down your throat,” Avery snarled. “And I know you always swallow.”

Nash shouted my name again. His footsteps thundered on the floor above, racing closer.

Avery’s face lit with delight. He was practically vibrating,and I was definitely shaking while sputtering against the knife’s beveled side.

“Avery, please,” I spoke carefully, moving my mouth as little as possible to avoid eating metal. “He’s never done anything to you—”

The flat edge of the dagger snapped against my teeth so hard it resonated in my skull.

“Don’t beg,” the conjurer sneered. “You’re better than that.”

The stairs rumbled with Nash’s rapid descent, and I squirmed. The resulting pain was dizzying, burying productive thoughts too deep for me to reach. Avery knew exactly what he was doing. His cavalier attitude and willingness to turn his back on me were informed by the knowledge that my magic was concentration-based, and there was no chance of me being able to focus with my body wracked with pain and my heart gripped by fear.

Finally, Nash arrived on the ground floor. He turned slowly to scan the space and found Avery and I standing behind him.

“Avery, stay the fuck away from him!” I yelped, and Avery sniggered.

“Oh, that’s cute,” he said to me. “That’s very cute. You’ve got a little crush.”

Across from him, Nash bowed up, still shirtless, so his muscles visibly flexed. His hands balled at his sides, and I glimpsed the cork of a small bottle poking out of his fist. I’d seen him eject enough rowdy patrons from the bar, and been subjected to it myself once or twice, to recognize the knockout punch coming.

Before Nash swung, Avery rounded on him. “You likehim?” he jerked a thumb toward me. “You should thank me. I had him first, you know. Broke him in for you.” His leering grin made my insides twist.

Fury blazed in Nash’s eyes, and his lips curled in a snarl. I’d never seen him so angry.

“Shut your mouth,” he growled.

Avery waved the knife through the air, egging him on. “Make me, barkeep.”

“No!” I squawked and struggled, but the effort blinded me with a fresh onslaught of pain. My vision sparkled with stars, so I almost missed the haymaker punch Nash threw at Avery’s face.

The dagger flashed simultaneously, aimed out and up. Not going for the heart or even the chest. Judging by the angle, he planned to drive it up into Nash’s chin, straight to his brain. But he came up short, stopped by the potion bottle popping with a crackling snap.

Smoke exploded in an acrid cloud, and Avery flailed backward, swearing. I inhaled a breath and held it, remembering the mace effect those bottles usually had. Nash sidestepped as the knives Avery had been wielding disappeared. Simultaneously, the force pinning me to the wall relented. I slid down, hitting the floor on my knees.

A few feet away, the fight was far from over. Nash lunged again, tackling Avery to the ground. The two rolled and tussled while noxious potion fumes made my eyes burn and water. Avery shrieked, and I caught sight of Nash on top of him, rearing back for a wicked left hook.

The blow connected, and blood spritzed the foggy air.

Avery bucked, freeing one arm to swipe across Nash’s face. He raked his nails from cheek to cheek, and Nashrecoiled with a growl.

That was all the opening the conjurer needed to produce a new weapon, another deadly dagger with its tip angled toward Nash’s gut. Entwined as the two of them were, Nash couldn’t possibly see the threat. My fear for his life managed to overwhelm the blinding pain, and I got a mental loop around the knife.

I twisted it loose of Avery’s grip and threw it aside to dissolve in a wisp. The conjurer glowered at me, his features swollen and streaked with tears and snot from the alchemical pepper spray.

---