with
you.”
“ Then take the first hit.”
He slung his arms open, giving her a huge target. With magic or
without, he’d won every brawl he’d ever been in, and he definitely
wasn’t afraid to fight a girl.
The woman took a step back. He wasn’t
surprised when she whirled and ran. He snatched her arm, and she
took a swing at him. He ducked her blow and grunted at the elbow
that found his midsection. He hadn’t expected her to know how to
fight.
An arcing kick forced him to release her. He
blocked it and the next two blows and then snatched a fist headed
for his face, twisted her arm, and spun her. He wrapped her arm
around her throat as he pulled her into his body and held her there
with an arm across her chest.
“ Please, please don’t make
me do this,” she gasped. “I don’t wanna kill anyone!”
“ C’mon, sweetheart. We’re
gonna have a little talk, then we’ll see who gets to kill who.” He
chuckled. She wasn’t going anywhere in her position, and her body
shook from cold. If he thought she wouldn’t run or try to kick him
again, he’d let her go fetch her coat.
“ I am so sorry,” she
whispered.
A blast of cold tore through him as she
directed her magic into him. His teeth rattled at the raw energy
coursing within his body. He wasn’t sure what her gift was or what
she was trying to do, but he’d never met a Natural with her unique
combination of power and strength. The magic faded, and she tried
to pull away.
“ You done?” he
asked.
“ You’re not a
rock.”
Fed up with the cold and rain again, he spun
her and slung her over his shoulder.
“ You’re not a rock,” she
said again, stunned.
“ I’m probably immune to
whatever it is you tried to do,” he said. “Don’t feel bad. You
probably would’ve killed a normal human.” He strode toward the end
of the alley, wanting out of the rain as much as he wanted to talk
to the intriguing woman over his shoulder.
He’d nearly reached the end of the alley
when the hair on the back of his neck rose like it did when a
Watcher was present, only this was no Watcher. He’d never forget
his single run-in with one of the Others, a group of Watchers
working to destroy the mortal world in favor of an immortal one.
The two types of beings had last brought their war to the mortal
realm during the time of the Schism, when they’d almost destroyed
the universe.
He turned, not surprised to see the small,
grandfatherly man standing deeper in the alley. Unlike the
Watchers’ tell-tale green eyes, the Others had unnatural purple
eyes. The hum around the Other assured Jule there was only one
person in the alley without any sort of otherworldly power. He
lowered the woman to her feet and pushed her behind him.
“ You’ve gotta help me!”
The woman directed her plea toward the Other and tried to push past
Jule.
“ You want nothing to do
with this guy, woman,” Jule muttered. He wrapped one arm around her
tightly.
“ He’s my father!” she
snapped, straining against him.
Holy shit. Suddenly, he understood why the Watcher couldn’t
find her. She was under the protection of the Others. If the
Watchers and Others both sought this woman, something was very
wrong. Jule refused to release her, sensing more danger toward her
than to himself. She stopped struggling, apparently realizing how
futile it was.
“ Jule,” the Other said,
taking a step forward. “I see you’ve met my daughter. She knows
you’ve come to kill her.”
“ Just doin’ my job,” Jule
replied. The Magician smashed her heel into his instep. He shifted
her without releasing her. “I thought your kind hated
humans.”
“ And I thought your kind
had magics,” the Other said and cocked his head to the side. “What
has happened to you?”
“ Don’t need magics to kill
a woman.” Jule smiled despite his unease, not about to be caught
off guard by the creature. He pulled free a knife and flipped it in
the air, catching it. The woman in his arms went still
Allana Kephart, Melissa Simmons