Everyone else laughed too.
“You really have to stop putting us into a box,” Misa snapped. “Not all of us are what you think we are.”
“Sure you’re not.”
“You’re hurting my feelings.” She scowled at me.
That shut me up real quick. Did that really just come out of her mouth? Did I have the wrong impression about her? Was I being harsh without really knowing her?
First appearances were usually wrong, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that she was a demon. It is her job to be evil and harsh. Oddly, I felt horrible. “I’m sorry,” I touched her arm.
She glanced down at my hand, her entire body tense. I took the moment to read into her a little just to understand her better. What I saw was not what I expected to find.
Misa was a demon that longed for normalcy. Her views ran very much along the same lines as the Otherworld. She believed that those who take innocent lives should be destroyed. She believed in order, but she also believed in the ways of their world. Her life thrived around giving souls, she took them without hesitation, but she only took those who were willing. What she said about wanting us to be friends, she truly meant. She liked me. Liked what I was all about, which was just a whole bucket full of peculiar. It instantly made me feel like a bag of shit. My words to her, the things I said. I judged her wrong.
As much as it made me feel bad, it also dug at me that I was accepting more of the Underworld. It showed me just how strong the bond between Magnus and I was growing. That didn’t mean I was still going to keep fighting against the feeling of rightness. I had to remember all the evil that lived there and why I thought it was wrong because now it was hard to find those reasons.
The visions of her memories flipped quickly through my mind, when suddenly, there was a vision of her and a white-haired Warlock in an intense conversation, but I couldn’t quite grasp what they were saying. Just as it began, it vanished as Misa pulled away from me.
“What was that?” I asked her curiously, interest piqued at what she didn’t want me to see.
She smiled, and it was in every way cold. “There is more going on in my world than you know.”
Huh? “What?”
She shrugged away the question and flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Now is not the time to discuss it.”
What the hell did that mean? There was more going on? Before I could even think more on the matter and ask another question, Zia grabbed my hand with hers and pulled a little. “Let’s go.”
“I will protect you,” Misa whispered behind me.
I glanced back at her, a little annoyed. “I don’t need your protection.”
“Yes, I know that, but it’s my job.”
I sighed, and looked at the house as we began our approach. The house was secluded with waist-high bushes closed off by a gate.
Zia opened the gate, stepped through then glanced at me. “Ready?” Her tone was rapid and tense.
“Ready as I’ll ever,”
“Then go,” Zia shouted.
Without further request, I drew in Spirit around me. With it protecting me, I booked it toward the house, running as fast as I could. I met the porch stairs two at a time and lunged for the door.
I grabbed the door handle and threw it open. Instantly, I felt a blast of power. It was raw and thick, and stole my breath immediately. The force of it sent me flying back to land where the others stood on the front lawn spread out in formation.
“Christ,” I gasped as Zia helped me to my feet. “That was unbelievable.” My shield had just saved me from vaporization.
“They are powerful,” Briar said from beside me, readying her stance.
Immediately, twenty or more witches poured from the house, displaying everything Black Magic is. Hard cold eyes resided in their faces, as pure evil expelled from them.
“Zia,” one of them growled through clenched teeth. “You have no business here.”
“You will stop this,” Zia ordered, “or we will have no choice, but to stop you.”
She laughed evilly. “We have grown stronger than you. You will not stand a chance against us.”
“I have to say, I think I believe her.” I whispered to Zia.
“Hrmph.” Then, with total confidence, she nodded me forward.
“Alright then.” I drew in a deep breath. With my shield strong around me, I stepped out toward them, stopping only a few feet away. “You have the choice to come and join us. You can leave this and live.”
They all laughed, practically spat in my face, as they looked down their noses at me. “We know who you are, Nexi Jones. But even you do not have the strength to destroy us.”
Rage consumed me that they doubted my ability, who I was. That rage came out in a cackle, and shut them up instantly. Before I could even stop myself, the words came out of my mouth. “As Magnus’ mate, you will surrender.” The witches’ faces went from amused to frightened, in a second flat.
My hand went straight over my mouth. “Dear God,” I said beneath it.
“She’s right,” a Black Magic Witch said in a gasp. “Look, there is a demon with her.”
Everybody was dead silent. No one even moved.
I glanced back at Zia and Briar, who both looked devastated. Haven started crying.
“I don’t know why I said that.” I managed.
Briar gave me a knowing look. “Simply because it is true, my dear.”
“No,” I screamed, rage filled every part of me. Rage that my life was no longer my own and I had no control of what came out of my mouth. Rage that after all I’d been through, I was about to lose it all.
That anger needed an outlet and I had the perfect way to release it. I lunged forward and pummeled one of the witches across the face.
She cried out and fell the floor. My smile was cold as she lay unconscious on the ground. As I raised my head, witches began to back away from me in fear. Oh yeah, I had these bitches right where I wanted them and they were going to pay for all the evil they caused. They were going to pay with their lives.
With all the Guardian strength that had been born within me, I attacked.
Misa was close to me, I could sense her, but she didn’t intervene. She stood protectively, waiting for someone to endanger me. The witches appeared stunned that I wasn’t using magic on them, but right now I needed to beat the hell out of something. I let go of all my restraint and let the fury come forth.
One after another, I attacked the witches with punches and kicks. Their magic came at me again and again, but my shield held strong. They couldn’t get through, even as they tried their damndest.
The power within me was rich and I was undeniably strong.
After I leveled a witch into a heap on the ground, I drew my sword from my back. The knowledge that I was breaking my one rule¯fighting against witches with magic¯tinged in my mind, but my ire didn’t care.
Suddenly, my shield faltered and fire rippled down my arm, sending a little scream of pain to erupt from my throat. Before I could even react, Misa let out a high screech. With a blast of pure power, she faded away to black smoke, and whipped around the witch. The witch’s scream grew loud, then suddenly she was gone in a puff of smoke.
Misa returned to form, resuming her protective stance.
My rage continued to be all-consuming. Anger filled every part of me for all the wrongs that had ever happened, and was coming out in its purest form. Witch after witch died by my sword. To prove the truth—f**k with me, you die.
Abruptly, I became aware that I was fighting this battle alone. Zia and the others weren’t taking part in the fight, but I was glad for it. I needed to get this out, let the wrath free, and this was one place I could do it. To hurt those who deserved the pain and deserved to bleed.
After my sword sliced the head off the witch before me, I spun around and shot fire out at two others. They erupted into flames and dust flew through the air as their bodies evaporated.
My wrath never faded. Hate seeped in every part of me. Hate for the situation I was in, for my soul that craved Magnus. For just the whole-fucking thing and these witches were getting the tail end of that hatred.
Misa stayed close to me and had finished off a couple of witches by the time it was over. Not to help me by any means. She only assisted me when my shield faltered—if they posed a danger to me.
Within ten minutes, they were all dead. Either by my magic or by my sword, but all that mattered was they were dead. I sheathed my sword. The anger flowing through me made my limbs shake. My blood boiled, my entire body tense, and my jaw clenched tightly.
A growl came loud beside me. Quickly, I glanced toward it, seeing if there was threat. But when I saw Willow, I let out a deep breath that seemed to give way to some of the harsh emotions strangling me. Seeing her snapped me back to the present, and I gave my body a shake to ease my aching muscles. It surprised me that she was here. I hadn’t even noticed my big black panther had arrived. She watched me with an expression I’d never seen on her sleek beautiful face before she stood, stiff as a board. Frozen—stunned.
A little irritation whipped through me that she didn’t help me. But I resolved, she hadn’t helped because she didn’t need to. I had it handled on my own, and with Misa assisting me, there was no need to intervene.