Page 12 of Gemini Kings
If that’s my dad, this little showdown is about to getwaymore interesting.
Still pinning Xiao to the desk, I twist to get a gander behind me. Which is how I see one, two, three—sweet Jesus, more guys that I can count, all wearing carnival masks and Mardi Gras krewe costumes, they’re the guys who were throwing beads from the rotating bar, which makes zero fucking sense—pouring into the room, silent as spilled ink.
Okay, so it’snotmy dad, because his ego’s way too big to fit behind any kind of mask.
And he’s never silent. His mouth’s always running with his smooth casino schtick.
But whoever these guys are, they can’t be anything good.
A conclusion that’s totally validated when the lead guy bellows,“ZARINA SELENE GEMINI.”
That mouthful’s my full name, and it’s what warlocks use for Compulsion spells, which are common magics just about any trained witch can cast.
But you need a bond with the caster for that shit to work. This guy’s probably counting on the fact that I’m a Gemini in a Gemini casino and he’s tied somehow to my dad.
Maybe that woulda been enough in the old days.
But not since I’ve come into my power.
Right now, I just feel like someone goosed me a little with a shot of voltage. Hell, that’s barely unpleasant enough to piss me off. Still, the insult makes a hum gather in my throat—the dangerous hum of the lightning voice. My hair floats around my head in a crackle of psychic charge.
While carnival goons pour into the room and I’m all distracted, Xiao twists under me and snags the Hummingbird from his ankle holster.
Which is areallyshit idea.
I roar out a curse in the lighting voice and swing around to face him. My arm sweeps up to connect with his wrist before he can bring his heat into play and fire his goddamn pistol in my face.
And I’m so amped up that when we make contact, a jolt of electricity arcs between us.
That’s the little lightning, not the major bolt I can summon when I mean it. (That’s when I do the full-on electrical equivalent of Hulking out. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.) But the jolt that arcs from my body to Xiao’s, that fuckery a lightning witch summons with her voice, lights up the room with a flash of ultraviolet that makes my world go white.
The big halogen light in the corner explodes in a shower of sparks and jagged metal. Guys shout and dive clear of the shrapnel. The air floods with the industrial scent of ozone and burning metal.
When my vision clears, it’s dark as fuck except for the ruddy emergency light flashing through the open door and the violet glow spilling from my eyes.
On the desk beneath me, Xiao’s knocked out cold.
Maybe he’s dead—which, God, isn’t what I meant to happen—but I don’t even have time to check. My little Thor son of Odin moment knocked the lead guys over, but the uglies in the back are still coming.
“Do you have a death wish?” I snarl to the room at large.
That’s a theme I’m almost pissed off enough to pursue, but the last thing I want—as in, theverylast—is a repeat performance of what happened the last time I lost my electrical shit in a Gemini casino.
The time a casino full of innocent tourists and looky-loos lost their lives, just because I lost my cool.
Which means it’s time to go.
As in,now.
I shove upright and pivot to check out my options.
“Stay where you’re at, sweetheart,” one of the goons croons at me through his mask. “We only wanna talk. No one needs to get hurt.”
“Yeah,right,” I snort under my breath.
What kinda idiot do these guys think I am?
I snag the medallion from around Xiao’s neck, and he gives a heavy groan. I puff out a breath of relief. Despite every fucking thing between us, I never meant to kill him in cold blood, because I’m not (quite) that coldblooded.
