Page 10 of Witches Be Damned

Styx’s savage hiss peeled the flesh from my bones. Bloodied fingers snatched up his prize, choking Knoxe, his face and neck red and bruised.

“No!” I crawled forward, stripping a knife from the back of my man’s belt.

Letting out a war cry, I stabbed the bastard between the legs, right where his reproductive organs were located. He let out an agonized wail and dropped my lover. A gasping Knoxe dragged me back and punched the vampire in the knee, making a bone crack. Styx bent over and hissed.

Tor crawled along the floor, his exoskeleton bent and broken. “Get out of the way, Supergal.”

I backed away a few steps as Tor applied his magick, bringing a soldier coming to his leader’s rescue and Styx to their knees.

Raze groaned and reached for me.

“We’ll get you out of here, my wolf,” I reassured him.

I just had to get out of those cuffs first and lift him from the floor.

Knoxe cashed in on the distraction and fixed cuffs to the two vampires’ wrists. “Much as I want to, I’m not going to kill you.” He shoved Styx’s head aside, and the leader snarled, weakened by his wounds and the cuffs.

Wow. Knoxe desired his enemy dead for two years yet found mercy in the end. What a changed man.

“Love you and so proud of you,” I told him, and snatched the key from Styx’s weapon belt, fumbling to unlock my cuffs. “Dammit. They made it look so easy in the movies!”

Tor dragged himself over to me. “Give it here, Supergal.” He took the key and twisted it for me, unlocking my restraints.

Soldiers rushed to their leader, two tugging at the cuffs to free him, others draining the life from Tor, Knoxe, and Raze. I retreated three paces, raising my palms, ready to unleash hell on these bastards for what they did to Raze and me.

Magick flittered through my cells, crackling in my nerves, my fingertips, hell, even flickering in my eyes. All my rage for the past year and a half of hell. Being sent to the Guardians. Threatened, assaulted, almost raped, barely avoiding death. Bruised. Battered. Kidnapped. Tormented by my wolf’s torture. No fucking more.

Equations burst to life. New chemical symbols. Gene sequences. DNA codes. The power to create and destroy all wrapped in one. Magick flooded my system, and I let it out in a heated, furious tempest of orange. Styx and his soldier screamed as the force enveloped them, their waxy skin marked with orange veins, throbbing with a destructive force.

The same power that caught Knoxe, Raze, and Tor in a blinding fury.

Oh, fuck. What did I do?

I reached for Knoxe, catching his wrist, his hand radiating the power he absorbed. Lightning flickered between his fingers as he twisted his hands back and forth, eyes wild with amazement.

Raze’s eyes glowed orange like my magick. His lips peeled back, exposing his lengthened teeth. Finally, his muscles sprang to action, and he launched to his feet, impaling Styx’s shoulders with his claws, driving him back into a wall.

“Raze, no!” Knoxe attempted to stop him, and I grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t,” I warned, tugging him to a stop. “Not when he’s like this. He’s out of his mind and might hurt you.”

Knoxe and I watched as Styx pitifully fought back, useless in the battle with multiple wounds. Feral with protective instinct for the harm done to his mate, my wolf didn’t let the vampire live, ending him in a vicious slice.

“Fuck!” Knoxe swiped his forehead. “We needed intel.”

“What’s happening?” Bands of sunset wound around Tor’s arms, neck, over his chest, in a grid over his body.

Smiling, he stood without the assistance of his exoskeleton. A wave of his energy rippled throughout the room, crippling the vampires. Every. Single. One. Previously, Tor only managed two or three at a time. Those draining my father and Serena fell to their knees, faces drawn in misery.

I dove into my magick to determine what I’d done. New chemical equations floated in my mind, showing me I’d performed the impossible. Changed their DNA and activated new genes. Repaired Tor’s broken back. Unlocked some dormant power in Knoxe that wasn’t previously known. Enhanced Raze’s strength, speed, and evaporated the sedative in his bloodstream. Sharpened them into greater superheroes.

A vampire captured my father with his draining power reach, preventing him from backing up Serena. Knoxe broke away from me and wrapped his fingers around the neck of my dad’s assailant. Electricity sparked from Knoxe into the vampire, and the soldier’s eyes widened, his armpit crackling with current. His control over my father waned, and he slumped into Knoxe’s electrified palms.

My magick registered the release of autolysis chemicals, activated when the vamp’s heart stopped at the point of death. Whatever gene I awoke in Knoxe gave him the power to stop a heart from beating.

“Ah, bud.” Tor pointed to the marvel. “You’ve got a little lightning show going on there.”

“I can feel the raw power.” Knoxe closed his eyes.

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