Chapter 12
I instinctively reached for a death potion just as the Fire Wolf’s arms wrapped around me. Before I knew what was happening, I was flying through the air and tumbling to the floor.
The hunter rolled on top of me, and the stench of the filth surrounding us flooded my nose.
Before I could react further, the Fire Wolf was off me and throwing a blade. It must have hit its mark because a shrill hiss followed.
“Go back the way we came!” the Fire Wolf roared.
The two sorcerers joined hands and the hunter leapt to the side just as they sent a surge of magic blazing at him.
I stumbled to my feet as the spell created an arc of light in the hall. Death curses.
Another curse flew from the sorcerers’ fingertips. It was twice the size of the first.
“Watch out!” I called to the hunter as I shot a bolt of magic.
The sorcerer I’d aimed at ducked just as the Fire Wolf dodged, but the sorcerer was on his feet again, throwing a new curse. It lit up the air like a firework, and I finally caught a clear view of them.
Their gaunt faces were pale, skeletal, and sickly looking, but their magic was dark and heavy, and their feel, their look, their smell . . .
My breath sucked in. “Warlocks,” I whispered. Shit, shit, shit.
“Yes,” the hunter replied as he whipped blade after blade through the air toward them. “Get out of here!”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I threw a potion at one of the warlocks, but he dipped to the side, his movements a blur. The potion exploded in a useless cloud on the floor.
Fuck they were fast.
I tried a binding spell, then a telekinetic one, then a death curse. All the while, I dipped and moved, swayed and dodged, as they cast spells at me just as fast.
But each spell I threw missed its mark. They moved with inhuman speed, as though the wind carried them in gusts, and as if they could disappear and reappear even though that was impossible.
Sweat beaded on my forehead, and one of the warlocks hissed at me as he began to swirl his palms, crackling power forming between his hands.
I threw another potion, but he dodged that one, too, moving so fast that no amount of my training could have made me hit the mark.
Shit. I only had three of those potions left.
A zing through the air caught my attention, right before a throwing star embedded itself into the warlock’s shoulders. A bolt of magic followed, sizzling through the air, but the warlock dodged and avoided that hit from the hunter.
The Fire Wolf was fighting just as fast, if not faster, than me. The warlock wrenched the throwing star from his flesh. In another blink, he’d hurled it back at the hunter in blinding fury. My heartbeat skipped, but the Fire Wolf managed to dart out of the weapon’s path.
I erected a shield spell around myself as the warlocks lobbed curses one after another, going faster and faster and faster. My spell shattered so I turned into a tornado of leaps, dips, and rolls. It took everything in me just to stay on my feet and not get hit.
Fucking A.
I panted and trembled as reality set in. Warlocks were notoriously strong since they were filled with dark magic. We may not survive this.
“Tala. Run, now!” the Fire Wolf growled as he erected a shield spell around himself. He threw his shield my way, extending it, but after three rapid hits from the warlocks, his shield shattered too.
I locked my jaw. “No way. I’m not leaving you with two against one.”
I swirled my hands as the Fire Wolf erected another shield before withdrawing a magically charged gun. He shot over and over at the warlocks.
But the glowing bullets missed them, the warlocks’ bodies moving impossibly fast, as though they could see the bullets and avoid them.
Magic swam through my veins as I summoned all of it. It crackled and filled my arms, flowing down my limbs as a ball of sizzling power grew at my fingertips. I hurled my arm back, about to unleash an avalanche of power that would stop even these two momentarily, but then an abrupt wave of black energy hit me.
A scream parted my lips as I flew backward, smashing into the ground.
My summoned magic vanished, disappearing in a blink. I clutched my stomach in agony. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. I’m hit, I’m hit, I’m hit.
Molten, dark power flowed into me, drowning me in its intensity. I curled into a ball. I was dying, the pain alone told me that.
I gasped, then sucked in another breath. The pain didn’t abate, but I was still alive.
What’s happening?
I was vaguely aware that the fighting continued. The Fire Wolf kept throwing, shooting, dodging, and rolling, all the while calling to me over and over.
But the overwhelming surge of malicious magic kept barreling into me in unrelenting waves. It didn’t stop, but I didn’t die.
It’s my fucked-up magic! My magic was on the fritz again. Un-fucking believable.
I blinked and rolled to the side in agony. Through slitted eyes, I saw that one of the warlocks was also doubled over.
He was on the floor, too, rolling around in a state similar to me. A sickly cry came from him as his partner continued fighting the hunter.
I clamped my mouth shut, swallowing the yelp of pain that flooded my system, as whatever the hell was happening to me refused to release its grip.
The Fire Wolf shot a lightning-quick glance in my direction, then a ferocious snarl erupted from him before he leapt and shifted midair.
Shredded clothing fluttered around him, drifting to the floor like confetti as he landed on four huge paws. Despite my sorry-ass state, I gaped at how beautiful he was.
An immense wolf with russet-colored fur intermixed with dark-gray, cream, and black hues, stood with hackles raised. He crouched and sprang at the still standing warlock.
The Fire Wolf landed on the warlock’s chest, smacking the dark sorcerer to the ground, but the healthy warlock was too fast. In a second, he’d rolled away and sprung to his feet.
Another moan came from the downed warlock as I clamped my lips together to keep from crying out. Fear strummed through me as the warlock fighting the Fire Wolf dodged right as the hunter attempted to pounce on him again.
Another spell exploded from the warlock’s fingertips. I tried to cry out, to warn my hunter, but another wave of horrific, sickly magic coursed through me. It hit me again, then again, and again. It was so dark and twisted that I was gagging on it. I could barely breathe, barely think, as the sheer vileness of the magic pummeled me.
The Fire Wolf’s eyes cut my way again. Fire blazed in his irises as his lips peeled back and he turned toward the warlock baring his razor-sharp canines. The warlock hissed in response, revealing rotten teeth as the stench of putrid breath rolled from his tongue.
Another curse exploded from the warlock, lighting up the dark hallway in brilliant light, but in his wolf form, the Fire Wolf managed to crouch, dodge, and then leap out of the way, all as if it was the same move.
I sucked in a tiny breath of air, just as the warlock on the ground across from me began to twitch. That vile, potent magic continued to bury me, as if filling me up and aching to destroy me.
The Fire Wolf sprang into the air again and in a twist of limbs and acrobatic grace, landed on top of the standing warlock.