Page 80 of The Powerless Witch

Isaac

This was it. The night everything changed—for better or for worse.

I glanced at the sky where two of the bird shifters were soaring, barely visible under the thick clouds hiding the moon. A loud squeak had my heart racing, then another one had my body moving.

We had surrounded the house Regina lived in—a big, pompous thing that suited her perfectly. It was dark, carefully arranged, and suspiciously quiet. A team had been monitoring her every movement since yesterday and according to them, she was still on the premises—unless she had translocated somewhere but I heard witches didn’t like doing that unless absolutely necessary, so it was safe to assume she was still inside the residence.

I gave a curt nod to Allison and the others standing behind me in the shadows of another house rising not too far from Regina’s. The whole street was made of huge buildings with big yards and a self-important appearance, but at least that meant there wouldn’t be many people around and it would take time for anyone to come to check out what was going on if things got out of hand.

“Ready when you are,” Allison mouthed when I paused at the corner, giving our destination one last look.

There were wards; I could feel them even where I stood, so we could forget about the element of surprise. On top of that, we found out the whole property had been blessed so none of the vampires could step past the gate, leaving us no choice but to keep them as backup. Their job would be to watch the perimeter around the house, taking care of any witches that might come to Regina’s aid. I really had hoped we could use them against her, as few of them as they were, since magic didn’t affect them like it did us, but luck was not on our side tonight, it seemed.

However, we still had the numbers, and knowing her arrogance, she wouldn’t run. Not until she realized she was severely outmatched, and hopefully by then it would be too late. And if she translocated…we just had to destroy everything to find her tether. That would bring her right back—or so Gideon claimed when he explained how translocation worked.

“Let’s go.” I took a steadying breath and ran toward the house. One of the rat shifters had said he’d take care of the cameras and the lights, and before we had made it to the building, the street lamps all flickered off.

I didn’t stop until I reached the front door, giving a sign to the others to take cover. They waited while we made sure no sound came from the house, then spread out like we had planned. Allison, Peter, and I lingered by the door just as one of the bird shifters landed, transforming mid-flight.

In a couple of strides, he was beside me, looking up, since he was almost a head shorter.

“There are lights on the first floor and the second. One appears to be a bedroom, the other—a study. Gideon said he’ll be taking the second floor, so this leaves you the first. We didn’t spot Regina, but there was definitely movement inside.”

“One person?” I asked as Peter slid closer to the door, running his finger over the surface. He looked at me with pursed lips and I swallowed my curse—another ward. The moment we stepped through it, they would know. I wasn’t sure what the barrier around the house had been for—an alarm or something else—but when we passed it, nothing had happened.

“I think it was two. Her Second lives with her, right?” the man frowned. “Do we kill her too?”

I hesitated. Samara wasn’t the most likable person, and she was Regina’s protégé, but she was young and apart from spiteful comments and grimaces, she hadn’t done anything.

‘That we know of,’a voice whispered in my head.‘She is a witch. The world is better off with her dead.’I shook my head to shut it up.

‘Just because she is a witch doesn’t mean she deserves to die,’ I told myself.

“We try to restrain her if she fights,” I said, looking at the others to get the message across. “If she surrenders, she lives. If she doesn’t…” I licked my lips, giving them a meaningful look. “Don’t let her get in the way of the mission.”

I waited for the round of nods, then stepped back to give myself space to shift. The bird shifter shot to the sky, flapping his wings as he circled the house. They weren’t the best fighters, not on the ground at least, but their eyesight was unparalleled. If anything moved in the house—or tried to approach it—they’d be the first to know.

I let my pants fall to the ground, shifting on my way to the door. The sound of bones cracking and skin tearing filled my ears, but despite the pain that accompanied every transformation, my warriors made not a single noise.

The mindlink filled my head, uneasiness mixed with determination flooding my body. I answered with confidence and pride, soothing their nerves even as I hid mine. By the time I reached the door, Peter had opened it. I stepped in with Allison moving so close, her tail brushed against my side.

The foyer was empty and dark, with no sound to be heard from anywhere in the house. No alarm blared, and no magic tried to stop us.

‘This feels too easy,’Allison murmured while we spread around, sniffing the air. It smelled of blood and anger, of magic and something dark and cold.

‘Yeah.’I nodded, moving swiftly toward the corridor, where a sliver of light was stretching over the dark marble floor. ‘Keep your eyes open. It might be a trap.’

A loud thud came from the second floor and everyone froze, looking up as if expecting the ceiling to fall through. When nothing happened for a few seconds, I nodded toward the door. Peter and a few of the others that were closest approached on silent feet. Allison and I covered the rear, making sure nobody surprised us from behind.

Something crashed inside that room, followed by a colorful curse. Just as I was about to shout for everyone to attack, the door exploded outward, sending wood and mortar flying everywhere. A figure emerged from the dusty cloud, the sound of her heels on the marble making us all ready to charge.

Regina’s face was full of annoyance when she stopped, looking us over with exasperation rather than fear. That’s when I noticed the second form next to her feet.

The last of the smoke settled, and I blinked at the large fox, wondering if we had a fox shifter among our people. The animal spit something out and I gasped when a long, black snake fell on the ground, twitching a few times before going perfectly still.

‘Sylla. Fuck, they already got her!’Allison cursed just as a low growl echoed through my chest.

‘Kill that bitch!’I ordered and everyone charged.

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