Page 87 of Elora and the Crow

“Calm yourself,” Nimera spoke softly from her spot on the floor, her gaze intent on the witch’s face.

The witch curled her lip. “Your emotional manipulation won’t work on me, fae bitch.”

She turned her gaze toward Elora, and bright panic infused Jonah’s body. He needed to keep the witch’s attention on him.

“Hey! Look at me! I don’t fucking care who you are,” Jonah growled. “You’re just some crazy mother of a chick I banged for a weekend three years ago. A chick whose name I can’t even fucking remember.”

Her gaze snapped back to his, her eyes radiating pure fury. He needed to shift, his only chance of defeating her was in animal form, but even just thinking of shifting made his legs watery and his chest tight with panic.

If he shifted, the witch would trap him again, and maybe this time, Elora wouldn’t be able to break it. Maybe this time, he’d be trapped forever, and if that happened, he’d go fucking insane.

“You broke my daughter’s heart!” The witch shrieked. “I am going to fucking kill you this time, shapeshifter!”

She raised her hands, and Jonah tried desperately to shift. Nothing happened, and he stared wide-eyed at the witch. He told himself to run, but his body was a frozen lead lump, refusing to obey any of his commands as the gun fell from his suddenly numb hands. He was about to die, murdered by an insane witch because three years ago, he couldn’t keep his fucking dick in his pants.

The witch spoke an incantation, and her hands glowed bright yellow. Her voice rose to a roar, and Jonah cringed as the light shot from her hands.

“What the fuck?” he said when the beam of light stopped only inches from his body.

“You little bitch!” the witch shouted. “You think a barrier spell around him will stop me from killing him?”

Jonah stared at Elora, who was standing in front of Caleb and Nimera. Blood soaked the side of her head and face, and she looked sick to her stomach, but her hands shone with blue light, and she stared steadily at the witch.

“Leave,” she said. “You are not welcome here.”

The witch looked her up and down. “You have some power, but you can’t defeat me. Walk away, witch, and I’ll let you live.”

“I asked you to leave,” Elora said. “I won’t ask again.”

The witch grinned, revealing rotting black teeth and a blackened tongue. “My name is Malencia, and someday, you will regret crossing paths with me.”

“Lady, I’m already there,” Elora said.

The witch cackled laughter again, and Jonah shouted a warning when she whirled to face Elora, and the yellow light shot from her hands. It stopped inches from Elora’s body, and Elora gave her a hard grin before speaking an incantation. The blue light intensified, and Jonah stumbled back when Malencia burst into bright blue flames.

“Holy fuck!” Caleb shouted.

With a soft whoosh, the flames around Malencia disappeared. She was uninjured with no burn marks, and she sneered at Elora. “Is that all you’ve got, fire witch?”

She shot another beam of light at Elora, and Jonah’s stomach hit the fucking floor when it broke through Elora’s barrier spell and hit her. She was knocked backward into the wall with a skull-rattling thump. She slumped to the floor, and Malencia laughed triumphantly and raised her hands again.

Jonah rushed her, and without looking at him, Malencia slammed her arm into his midsection. It felt like being hit by a piece of concrete, and he flew through the air, crashing into one of the side tables and flipping over it. Pain erupted in his shoulder, but he ignored it and jumped to his feet.

“You’re dead, shapeshifter,” Malencia howled.

Before she could blast him with light, Caleb smashed into her. They tumbled to the ground, and Jonah ran toward them, his left shoulder a ball of agony. Fuck, he’d dislocated it again.

He tripped over a piece of the door and went sprawling, landing on his dislocated shoulder hard enough to make the world waver as white-hot pain slammed through him.

“Stay the fuck away from my brother!” Caleb snarled.

Malencia tossed Caleb off of her like a twig. He slammed into the wall and fell to the floor, his head bouncing off the marble floor. His eyes rolled up in his head, and his body went limp.

“Caleb!” Nimera screamed.

Malencia shrieked when a ball of blue flame hit her directly in the chest. Elora was back on her feet, tossing fireballs at Malencia like a pitcher in game seven of the World Series.

Malencia staggered back, screaming again when one of the fireballs landed on her sleeve, and the fabric burst into flames. She beat at the fire with her hand before saying an incantation that extinguished them.

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