Spellbound Murder Complete Trilogy (Spellbound Murder Box Set Book 1) Page 20

“Leave her!” it screeched.

  “Not going to happen,” Gabriel said.

  “We will go through you if we must, bastard son of a god. You have lost your voice. You shall die if you stand in our way.”

  A flurry of twitches went around the group of gathered creatures. A few stepped back. None looked ready to fight Gabriel.

  “Iss that your final decisssion?” the beast asked.

  “It is,” Gabriel said.

  The creatures yelled and moved forward as though driven by invisible whips.

  “Stay low and behind me,” Gabriel said through gritted teeth.

  Mira backed up, but not too far, fearing the wall.

  This shouldn’t be happening. This was her fault. She had somehow dragged Gabriel into this torment-filled world.

  One of the creatures broke line and launched himself at Gabriel. Gabriel swung out and black blood was slung into the crowd of approaching beasts. The smell of burnt oil seemed to drive a few into a frenzy. Three more creatures leapt out. Gabriel was able to dispatch two, and the other didn’t come close enough for Gabriel to hit. It snagged the first downed creature away. Mira thought it must be clearing the fighting grounds, but then she heard the snapping of bone and chewing.

  They were eating their dead.

  Four more leapt at once, one heading straight for Mira. It clawed at her arm and tried to drag her away. Gabriel chopped off its arm and continued to the next animal. Something grabbed Mira’s leg. She kicked out, making contact with what she thought was the thing’s face. It screeched, but didn’t let go.

  Yanking hard, it managed to knock Mira off her feet.

  Gabriel dispatched another, but they were coming too quickly. Mira yelled while she punched and kicked anything she could reach. The grip only bore down harder. She was dragged away from Gabriel, but she could see that there was nothing he could do.

  The black beast with skin like leather appeared in front of her.

  This was the last place that Mira wanted to die, but it looked like she wasn’t going to be given a choice in the matter. She grabbed her pentagram; ready to say her goodbyes to the people she loved.

  The moment her skin touched the metal, the ward activated.

  The creature that was dragging her screamed and released her. He clutched a taloned hand, which smoked. Another creature rushed to take its place, but he struck an invisible wall. Parts of him burst into flame before he ran into the night, screeching.

  Two creatures broke line to follow it. Mira’s stomach churned at the thought that they were eating a cooked dinner tonight.

  Clinging to the ward, Mira stood and unsteadily moved to Gabriel. He was sweaty and confused as the monsters started shrieking and falling away from him, even though they were untouched. The side of the living wall started smoldering when she walked too close. It quivered and moved back. Mira watched mutely as the entire length moved, quicker than she would have thought possible.

  Gabriel looked at her, eyes wide.

  “They can’t come through it,” Mira said weakly.

  “But we can wait it out,” hissed old leather-face. “Thiss world will eat through that flimssy magic, and we will be right here when it does.”

  The moldy-looking creature from the station moved forward as well. “You will pay for your crimes against us.”

  Gabriel was still in attack mode, but nothing advanced.

  “You can sit here and wait all you want,” Mira said. “We’re getting out of here.”

  “You ssshall not be going far,” hissed the monster. “You are bleeding and will be tracked. It’s been a while sssince we’ve had a witch to eat.”

  Mira shivered. “You’re not going to have this one.” She wished she could have said that with more conviction.

  “You have a ward that is ssshrinking and an angel that has lost hisss voice. What use are either against usss?” asked the molded creature.

  “I can talk,” Gabriel said, practically shaking with need to lash out.

  “You sspoke once, but your voice is gone.” The dense, black creature appeared almost smug.

  “Look you—” Gabriel started.

  “Gabriel, let’s go,” Mira said. “We’ve got to keep moving.” If these creatures were right, Mira at least wanted to try to get to her store before the ward stopped working.

  The wall behind them was gone, so they retreated that way. The two lead creatures gave them warped smiles, but didn’t follow. Mira tugged on Gabriel’s shield arm to keep him moving. A couple dozen yards later and she was leaning heavily on him to keep from falling over. The angel bore the extra weight without comment.

  “We have to take a break,” Mira said a few blocks later. “I really want to keep moving, but—” She felt worn down to the bone though she didn’t want to say anything since Gabriel had done all the work. He looked like he could walk another mile without breaking stride. “Where are we?” Mira peered around, trying to determine where they were. She didn’t want to think of how many miles lay between them and her store.

  “This looks like Perry Road,” Gabriel said.

  “Let’s swing right,” she said. “I know where to go.”

  They went up a few streets to a white one-story house. To Mira, it felt like the building was singing softly, and the air around the place wasn’t as thick.

  Mira checked the front door. “A witch lives here. Maybe I can find something here to help us.” It was Maggie’s house. Good old Maggie. Mira wasn’t sure what she had stored up, or if there even was a reflection of it in this world, but the place felt safe.

  Mira used Gabriel as a crutch to hobble around back. The back door was unlocked. Once inside, they locked the door behind them.

  Next to the door, Mira slid down the wall and sat on the floor. She was ready not to move again for a while.

  “We need to check the house,” Gabriel said.

  Numb to the world, Mira nodded. Gabriel had already left.

  Mira looked around from her spot on the floor, noting that there was no haze here. It was the closest semblance to their world she’d seen since arriving in the Ether.

  Her eyes drooped. While Gabriel made his rounds, Mira blinked wearily until her eyes closed and she couldn’t manage to open them again.

  Chapter 23

  A pat on Mira’s face woke her up. She was ready to scold Oracle, but Gabriel’s shining skin greeted her. Mira smiled and reached out to touch the shimmer that danced beneath his skin. With all that brightness inside, you would have expected him to look happy. Instead, he just looked pissed.

  She wrinkled up her forehead in concentration, wondering why he was ticked off. When realization struck, Mira just wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Gabriel said, not unkindly. He pulled her up off the floor. “You’ve got some talking to do.”

  “I just wanted a short nap,” Mira grumbled, although she didn’t actually remember making the decision to go to sleep.

  “No sleep until we get out of here. I bandaged up your leg and arm, but I’m not sure how much blood you’ve lost. It might be good to not sleep until we get you to a hospital.”

  Mira looked down at her leg. Sure enough, Gabriel’s shirt was wrapped around it, tied tight. Wondering how she hadn’t noticed warrior angel without a shirt, she looked up at him. He had been wearing a shirt under that one.

  Figures.

  She was aware that her thinking was fuzzy. Everything was happening a little slower.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “What about me?” Gabriel looked blank.

  “Did you get hurt?”

  “No.”

  The answer came too quickly for Mira’s liking. “Let me double check.”

  It was an interesting inspection. He had a few scratches, but nothing major. Mira took time going over every inch of his wings.

  “Don’t you think I’d know if something was wrong?” Gabriel grumbled.

  “We have no idea what a wing injury
might look or feel like,” Mira said. “Besides, I was holding onto your wing earlier and you thought I was grabbing onto your shoulder.”

  The feathers were soft. It was like a layer of down over thin steel. Mira ran her hands over thin bones, surprised that they didn’t seem fragile.

  She ran her fingers down until her hand neared Gabriel’s back. That’s when his wings twitched. It seemed involuntary, so she went through the motion again.

  Gabriel stifled a laugh, and then gave her a stern look. “Don’t do that.”

  It was good to hear him laugh, even if he wasn’t happy about it. While she inspected his wings, Gabriel seemed to be studying the experience. Mira jumped when he made them expand wide behind him.

  “Everything appears okay,” Mira said. “At least as far as I can tell.”

  Her own body was bruised and bleeding. She inspected some of the larger areas where her skin was starting to turn purple. Thankfully, nothing was broken.

  The only thing she wanted more than sleep was to get the hell out of the Ether.

  “Let’s start in the kitchen,” Mira said.

  “Start with what?” Gabriel asked. “You still haven’t said what we’re doing here.”

  “We’re going to see if there’s anything I can use to put together a spell.”

  There was a slight uplifting of Gabriel’s eyes, but he squashed it fast. “Tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll search.”

  A wry smile spread across her face. “Witches have been hiding things from prying eyes for hundreds of years. An outsider may have a hard time finding anything.”

  “Don’t put too much pressure on your leg.” He offered her his hand and helped her into the kitchen.

  Her leg ached ferociously, and the first few cabinets she found were empty. “Can you check the fridge and those cabinets over there?” She pointed behind Gabriel. When he turned, she leaned heavily against the counter.

  “Those things out there,” Gabriel said in a voice laden with forced calm, “they said I lost my voice. What do you think that means?”

  “I think you suspect the answer to that, same as I do. In the station, you did something. You made a command with your voice.” She half-heartedly pulled open a nearby drawer. “They think you’ve lost it. What they don’t realize is that you just haven’t found it.”

  “So you think I can do that again? Order someone to do something?”

  Mira shrugged. “Seems plausible.”

  “Jump up and down!” Gabriel yelled, pointing at Mira.

  “That’s not funny, Gabriel, my leg hurts.”

  Going to a wall, Mira leaned against it and started sensing for magic. She wasn’t that familiar with Maggie, but magic made itself known in this world. It was stronger and Mira felt sure she’d sense something.

  “Say my name. Tell me what you are doing. Flap your arms.”

  Slowly, she walked around the room, inspecting for traces of magic while Gabriel tried to issue orders.

  “Look, Gabriel, just yelling isn’t going to do it. Think back to what you were feeling when you ordered them out of the station. Grab that feeling and then try. You have to really mean it.” Mira hobbled to a stretch of cabinet on Maggie’s island in the kitchen. “And be careful what you tell me to do, bird boy. I’m going to be pissed if you make me bark like a dog.”

  When Mira snuck a peek at Gabriel, it earned her a grin. Maybe he was loosening up a bit.

  Gabriel closed his eyes. Mira could tell he was concentrating this time, so she turned and watched him. After a few moments, he opened his eyes, his skin gleamed white, and he pointed at her and said, “Confess.”

  Mira’s eyes bulged and her mouth opened. Words flew out in confused strings.

  She confessed.

  Starting with the most recent and working its way back, Mira said everything she had stored away. Her suspicions, thoughts... everything.

  “I was so relieved when we found this house. I didn’t think I’d make it with my leg, but I tried to ignore it. Those things that talked to us creep me the hell out. You killed them as though you’d been using a sword your whole life. I was sure I was going to die during the fight. I thought you might be better off just letting me die when we were surrounded. You were smart to tie the cord around us. I really think that helped keep me alive, and kept me going. It was stupid that you forgot massive, feather-covered wings. You hate me, which makes me sad, but I understand why, sort of. It’s my fault that we’re here. They dragged me here and you got caught in the crossfire.”

  Out and out it came. It was like word vomit. Gabriel looked proud at first, but Mira was having a hard time getting a breath. Her eyes teared up, and she tried to pause long enough to take a breath, but the confessions kept coming.

  Gabriel pointed at her again, and said, “Stop.”

  Good christ, she thought, the idiot’s going to make me stop breathing all together.

  All the feelings that she had kept buried when they came over to this world poured out. The feelings of uselessness, the feeling of awe when looking at Gabriel, the terror and fear, everything spilled out. She leaned heavily against the counter, trying to steady herself and grab another breath.

  She was talking about their world now—the Perspective spell that had gone so wrong, the concern that her friend was a killer or going to be killed, and the fact that she was afraid she had screwed up by not telling Gabriel—it all came out.

  On and on it came, like a valve she couldn’t shut off. She panicked even more when she realized what was coming next. Emmit’s spell, Emmit’s thoughts. Her mind went into a frantic mode. Those were none of Gabriel’s business.

  Mira grabbed the ward around her neck and tried to concentrate, ignoring the words coming from her mouth. They would come without her thinking about them. Gabriel pointed at her and said something. Mira held her ward tight and prayed for protection against winged idiots. There was a buzzing noise in her ears, and then a white-hot needle slashed through her brain. Finally, there was nothing.

  Chapter 24

  Mira jolted awake when she felt movement and realized Gabriel was carrying her out of the kitchen.

  She didn’t wait to see where he was taking her.

  “Confess?” Mira yelled.

  Gabriel was so taken off guard that he dropped her. She fell into a heap on to the floor before quickly untangling her limbs and forcing herself to her feet.

  “Confess!” she yelled again. “Your dumb ass still thinks I committed those murders. Confess, you tell me. Confess what, you winged Neanderthal?”

  She shoved past Gabriel, back to the kitchen, ignoring the pain in her leg and the newfound pain in her head. Her face flushed. What all had she told Gabriel? None of it was stuff she wanted him to know; she knew that.

  Storming back to the island, she had to bite back the insults she wanted to sling at him. She was having trouble concentrating on her search.

  When she was sure she had caught her breath, she turned back to him, glaring.

  Gabriel’s face was pale, his eyes were moist, and his skin ashen—far from glowing. It looked like he was in shock.

  Mira crossed her arms. “You are such an ass.” Being in shock didn’t mean she was going to handle him with kid gloves. “If you tell a soul anything that I said, I will dig up the worst curse I can find for you, karma be damned. Are we understood?”

  He blinked at her and said nothing until she rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the cabinet. If he really was in shock, she had to find something he’d react to.

  It took her a few minutes to find and open the secret compartment. Witches were good at hiding, but many of them used the same methods of concealing. If she hadn’t been so monumentally ticked off, she could have worked faster.

  Unlike the rest of the cabinets, this compartment was well stocked. She hadn’t known what she was looking for until she found it. It wasn’t a spell or potion. Just an ingredient. Something that smelled so foul, it was rumored to have been used to wa
ke the dead.

  Mira hobbled back to Gabriel and uncorked the bottle before shoving it under his nose.

  He took a breath and gagged. Mira put the lid back on the bottle and waited, arms crossed, for Gabriel to get himself back together. Color flushed back into his cheeks and his wings ruffled.

  “I dropped you,” Gabriel said.

  Rolling her eyes again, she returned to the magical stash. Once the bottle was put away, she dug through Maggie’s supplies.

  “That’s not what I meant to say,” Gabriel started. “What I meant to say was that I’m sorry. It was stupid. I didn’t think it would work. I’m sorry.”

  It mollified Mira a bit.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said stiffly. She stopped digging around in Maggie’s supplies and turned to Gabriel. “Look, I’m practically worthless here.” Her secrets were out; she might as well be honest. “For some unfathomable reason, you are the only protection we have here. You still thinking I’m a murderer is not filling me with confidence about my chances of survival.”

  “Really, Mira, I had no idea that was going to happen. I wouldn’t leave you here even if I thought you were a murderer. We’ll get out of this. We’re not sure what kind of power I have, but I swear I will do whatever I can to protect you.”

  A ghostly silver tendril slipped from around Gabriel's wrist. They watched as it quickly snaked its way to Mira. It was as insubstantial as air, but she stepped back as it neared her. The silvery gleam leapt forward, burying itself into her chest. She could feel a warm, tingly sensation as the cord settled into her.

  The cord disappeared when she started to follow its trail back to Gabriel.

  “Did you do that?” Gabriel asked.

  “That wasn’t me,” she said.

  “What was it?”

  “I have no idea, but it’s gone now,” Mira said. “I’m ignoring it.” She returned to digging around in Maggie’s secret compartment.

  “Agreed,” Gabriel said. He was silent for a few moments. “I don’t think you committed those murders.”

  Pausing long enough to throw him a dirty look, Mira pulled out a few items. “I was serious, Gabriel. You tell anyone anything that I said while under your influence and I’ll curse you.”