Page 7 of Kiss of Light

“What, I hold it up and shout something corny? Like ‘Power On!’?”

“Something like that.”

The wiccan smiled cunningly and Tala’s heart sank.

“It’s going to be something gross, isn’t it? There’s a massive downside you’re just about to spring on me.”

“Give me your hand.”

“Again? This deal is getting suckier by the minute.”

“Trust me. I never go back on my word. The relic is powerful and will respond only to you. But it needs to be implanted under your skin to work.”

“Implanted? Why?”

“Because it will draw its power from you. You should know by now, nothing comes for free.”

Bollocks.

Tala held out her hand, the maimed one. No point ruining both. Mama Xiaoling straightened her palm and touched the bronze relic to it. Tala saw gloomily the ‘rust’ marks were old blood stains. Good job demons couldn’t catch infections.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

“Oh, absolutely. But not for long.”

The wiccan muttered something under her breath and suddenly Tala’s palm was on fire. It felt as if someone was hammering a nail into it with a massive chisel. Her pain tolerance was impressive, but this was far worse than having a finger sliced off.

Mama Xiaoling held her hand steady, her grip surprisingly strong. Tala watched the relic sink into her skin. Her flesh burned white hot and she couldn’t stop herself crying out in agony.

And then it was gone.

Mama Xiaoling let go of her and she flexed her palm. Apart from the sting of her dismembered finger, it felt perfectly normal. Holding her hand up to her face, she saw a faint imprint under the skin. An outline of the symbol that had been engraved on the relic.

“So it’s part of me now. How does it work?”

“It’s like wiggling your toes. When you need the light, just think about it happening. It has to be a conscious decision. But a word of warning, shaitun.”

“Nowa word of warning?”

“It will extract a price from you. Every time you use it, it will weaken you. And each subsequent use will take exponentially more.”

“How many goes do I get?”

Mama Xiaoling studied her.

“You are one of the strongest shaitun I know. But I would advise no more than three times. After that it might kill you.”

“Threegoes? That’s it?”

“Use them carefully, shaitun.”

The door crashed open and Denny ran in, wielding a shotgun. He was doing a very good impression of Nick Fury but Tala knew he couldn’t shoot for crap.

“I heard you yelling,” he said, levelling the twelve-bore at Mama Xiaoling. “Are you okay, boss?”

“I’m fine, D. Put the gun down before you shoot someone.” He lowered the muzzle with relief and Mama Xiaoling gave him the once over.

“I see Mr Dennis is still working for you. Interesting. I did not know you had such a fondness for mortals, shaitun.”

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