Page 142 of Memories Like Fangs
But I was quickly realizing I was on borrowed time.
“Someone needs to come up with a plan, like, yesterday, please!” I heard Simone say as I saw her continue fighting off Cole from the corner of my eye.
“Well,” Teddy started as he and Rhois were trying to flank Maisie, whose magic lashed in all directions, her hair whipping around her like a storm cloud. “The last time this happened to Byrd, we had to use her necklace as a talisman to cleanse her since her dragon wouldn’t let us get close.”
Izzy chimed in, rolling to dodge one of Maisie’s attacks. “That must be why Byrd was unaffected by Lilah’s manipulation thistime. When Talli used the cleansing spell, the previous magic from Talli and the adaptive nature of Byrd’s mother’s dragon magic must have made the necklace able to combat any future blood spells.”
So, my mom and Talli saved me from beyond the grave again.I smiled at the idea while I parried Quinn’s knives again.
“Why can’t we just—and I don’t know, I’m totally just spit-balling here—wish for the blood magic to be out of them again?” Simone said between panting breaths as she ducked under one of Cole’s fists. She conjured a puddle of water to make him slip with a grunt.
Journee, darting across the room like a wraith, rolled a ball made of searing blue light onto the floor in front of Maisie. It exploded and flared upward into a tower of blinding light that incapacitated Maisie and forced her to step back. Journee’s voice came sharp and fast like lightning, trying to keep pace with the chaos. “You can’t combat my magic with any other kind of magic that way. Magic cannot be wished away. Just like energy, it has to have somewhere to go once I disperse it, and I would be a special kind of monster to put this curse into another living creature, let alone four of them.”
“Oh, my fucking gods,” Nat groaned. “I finally found a real genie, and there arerules.”
As Journee chuckled, Izzy called out, her voice calm and focused. “I know of a way to cleanse them, but I need them to be unconscious. Or, at least, incapacitated enough so I can touch them. I can also only work on them one at a time as the spellwork needs my focus.”
“Cool, cool, cool,” Teddy tilted his head. “So, how are we supposed to knock out three blood-thirsty huntersanda witch-fae without dying or getting our asses totally handed to us?”
Nat raised her hand, wiping a smear of blood from the side of her mouth from one of Cody’s punches. “I got this! But, I need someone to help Everett distract Cody.”
“Oh, I’ll do it happily. This lad has been on my last fucking nerve since I met him.” Rhois volunteered without hesitation, cracking her knuckles. Her teal eyes blazed ferociously on Cody as she approached with her hooves clicking on the floor under her flared pants, her grin wide and feral. “Let’s dance,nyaff.”
Nat spun on her heel and sprinted toward the kitchen. “ Byrdie! I need four of those crystal shards of yours! Pretty and sharp, please!”
“On it!” I called after her as I blocked one of Quinn’s blades with my crystal daggers. She went to cut me with her other dagger, but I caught it with one of the spikes of my tail. Quinn tried to push through my defenses, but I wasn’t giving her an inch. Instead, my wings vibrated, pulling me back away from her. Just when she thought she had me on the ropes like I was going to land for her to charge again, I flew forward and kneed her in the face, sending Quinn backward. I tried very hard to ignore the crunch of her teeth knocking together or the fracturing of her jaw. I fucking hated hurting her, but this was the only way to save her.
Forgive me, pumpkin. I’m just trying to protect you. I just want you safe, alive, and back to me.
Taking advantage of the brief moment of freedom, I summoned my magic once again. The opal sparks coalesced into four slender needlepoint shards about the size of a phone. They hovered obediently in the air for a moment before I sent them Nat’s way. She caught them mid-stride, her thin manicured fingers wrapping around the glowing silvers. She pivoted around what remained of the kitchen toward the sink and flung open a cabinet to pull out one of the last surviving mugs. “Everett! Teddy! Do any of you hippies have essential oils?”
I snorted through clenched teeth as I used my crystal arm to block another one of Quinn’s hits. “Check the drawer to the left of the sink! There should be an organizer full of essential oils!”
“Gods, I fucking love you!” She yanked open the drawer and pulled out a number of the tiny dark brown glass bottles.
“I see someone was hanging out with their Aunt Maxine for longer than they should. She teach you her smell-magic?” Everett asked, his hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath and raised his eyebrow toward me.
Before I could answer, a pungent cloud of teatree, eucalyptus, nutmeg, clove, lavender, and something else I couldn’t recognize filled the air. Nat poured and stirred the concoction of oils using the shards. When she lifted one of them out, the liquid clung to it, turning the white gem with other shades of color into a glowing, radiating gold.
“Okay! She’s ready!” Nat shouted.
I nodded. My heart lurched in my chest.
I guided the dart, lifting it from Nat’s hand and sending it flying straight to Quinn. Her eyes widened as it struck her just below her ribs. There was a beat of silence. It wasn’t even long enough for her to look down at the new wound or to reach and pull it out.
Quinn staggered forward.
Her eyes rolled back in her head.
Her knees buckled.
I was there to catch her before her body hit the floor, her head ending up in my lap.
Everett blinked, looking over at Nat. “What the fuck wasinthat?”
Nat shrugged, all calm and cool in a blood-soaked sweater. “Poison… Sort of.”
“You made that from aromatherapy?! I thought that shit was supposed to be relaxing!”
