A Witch's Fury (15 page)

“Now, you will refer to me as Destiny when
you beg for me to stop.”

I laughed. Jerry and Mark didn’t share my
mirth.

“Stripper name?”

Her eyes narrowed at me, her hand coming to
rest on a wickedly curved blade used for skinning animals.

“Right to the good stuff?” I continued to
taunt.

Closing her eyes, she drew a long breath,
hands lifted and elbows bent. I was fairly certain I had seen Kass
do the same move in her prenatal yoga videos. She exhaled,
releasing her shoulder as she did, smiling yet again.

“Now, that’s better.” Her hand slid to a
small knife, handling the blade with confidence.

She approached Jerry with the same calm and
cheerful demeanor.

“Jerry Abbot, you have quite the reputation
in the magic community. Did you know, Executioner, he had a bounty
on his head—until he showed up under your protection, that is.”

“I didn’t know that.” I turned my face the
best I could, watching Jerry’s face shut down. Mark glared at him,
their already turbulent relationship strained even further.

“It’s not what you think, Olie,” Jerry stated
darkly, watching Destiny closely.

“You know what Jerry, after I get done
killing this bitch, you and I are going to have a long fucking
heart to heart. Whether that’s before or after Mark says his piece,
I’ll leave that up to him.”

Mark’s eyes flicked to mine. He nodded his
thanks before turning back to our more pressing problems.

Destiny laughed a soft, throaty sound. “Your
confidence is unparalleled. I haven’t had a specimen so undaunted
by being restrained.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo. Why did Jerry
have a bounty on his head?”

“Oh dear, I think I will let him tell you
that. Jerry, if you please.”

“No.”

Destiny closed the distance between our
bodies, taking no time to slide the blade down my left side over my
ribs.

“FUCK!” Biting down on the pain, I tipped my
head back, breathing shallowly.

Jerry was painfully silent.

“Tell her,” Mark warned in low tones.

“I’m so sorry, Olivia,” Jerry whispered.

Another precise cut split the skin on my
right side. I whimpered, taking shallow breaths. Destiny pulled the
blade back, my blood coating the fine metal. She looked at Jerry
expectantly, the back of her head facing me.

“We’re waiting.” Her voice was soft, as
though she wasn’t carving me up because Jerry wasn’t answering her
questions.

“They will need the back story,” Jerry
grunted.

Destiny moved away from me, cleaning the
blade before setting it gently into its proper place.

Waving her arm, she encouraged, “Please
continue.”

Leaning my head against my arm, I let my body
sag, braiding the pain down deep.

With a reluctant sigh, Jerry began softly.
“The first thing you need to know is that witches gather and gain
power by taking it. Our power is not a skill level we are born
with. The only way to advance from witch, to mage, to magician is
to steal.”

I didn’t fucking know that. How had I missed
that? That was HUGE. I suppose my knowledge of the other
Supernatural beings wasn’t as extensive as I would like to
believe.

I looked away from him and back to the stone
ceiling.

Jerry sighed, resigned. “Needless to say,
then, I’ve earned my position as Mage by taking power from
others.”

Destiny tsked, “You are leaving out the best
part. Tell them whom you took it from.” Her voice hardened on the
command.

“Everyone,” Jerry responded.

“Everyone weaker!” Destiny yelled.

Jerry gave no response.

“How many families did you ruin? You didn’t
have to kill them all!” Destiny was livid, clutching a wide knife
in her hand until her knuckles whitened amidst her tan skin. “You
didn’t have to kill them,” she sobbed.

Throwing the knife down, she stomped out of
the basement and out of sight.

I said nothing, still staring at the dark
stone above me.

“How many?” Mark asked.

Jerry was silent.

“How many?” Mark roared.

“I lost count.” Jerry admitted. “You don’t
understand.”

“Help me to,” Mark begged. Like me, he wanted
there to be more to the story. We wanted Jerry not to be the
heartless killer Destiny portrayed him as.

“We have more pressing problems,” the
necromancer cut in. “How do you plan to survive this?”

I grunted. She was right.

Closing my eyes, I pushed the pain in my ribs
down again, hating how much energy I was wasting on the task. “Do
you know where we are?”

“No, I’ve been blindfolded.”

“I’m assuming you tried screaming for
help?”

“While I’m not proud to admit it, yes I did.”
The softness of her voice had me cutting a glance her way. The
regretful way she held her head was telling.

“The good news is we left a whole gym full of
witnesses who can report back to Grams.”

“Grams, this is your handler?” the necro
asked.

“Correct.”

She nodded thoughtfully.

“The containment spell she placed on the gym
will not be broken until the next dawn.”

I groaned. “So we are on our own. How did you
get trapped? I thought necromancers were innately powerful.”

The silver haired woman hung her head, “We
are, but I was lonely and Destiny was…” She faltered, searching for
the right word.

“Kind and available,” I finished for her.

She nodded, meeting my gaze.

A door slamming above our heads had everyone
shutting up and looking up, waiting. Destiny’s heels clicked
against the wooden steps leading down, and while the stairwell
blocked us from watching her progress, we all tracked it by the
sound.

She was smiling again, carrying five dark
strips of cloth, each four inches wide.

“Since I don’t have the time I’d like to
properly torture you, we will have to move forward this way.” She
sounded resigned, put off that her torture would have to wait.

“You aren’t strong enough to spell those,”
Jerry enlightened her.

She laughed, laying the dark pieces of fabric
down. “I don’t have to be.”

“Jaelle, come here,” Destiny commanded.

The necromancer’s chain rattled as she stood
to her full height, looking down at the smaller woman. “Don’t be
difficult, darling,” she chided as Jaelle fought the command.
“Enchant these five blindfolds with the shared memory spell.”

Jerry pulled at his bonds. I sure as shit had
no idea what was going on, but based on Jerry’s attempt to escape
right in front of our captor it wasn’t good. Or perhaps the memory
of his that she wanted us all to see wasn’t good. It was hard to
determine his motive.

With a few soft words and a silver glow,
Jaelle complied.

Destiny tied the blindfold on her first
before shoving her back to the soiled blankets. Jaelle landed in a
heap, declaring, “You will regret your treatment of me.”

“Not while you are spelled and bound,”
Destiny countered. Cocky bitch.

I was next, stiffening at her close proximity
and unknown magic. I pulled back only to get slapped across the
face. “Difficult,” she hissed at me.

I smiled as she tied the offending fabric
behind my head. “I try.”

That earned me another slap across my open
side wound.

I didn’t enjoy having one of my senses cut
off, and I strained to hear what was happening.

“There, now we can really begin. Jerry,
reveal to me your kills.”

I plunged downward, my vision blackened as I
hitched a ride on memories that weren’t mine. Looking out through
eyes that didn’t belong to me, I could no longer feel my body, but
I felt anticipation at gaining my sweet revenge.

My head tilted down and I took in my
reflection against the darkened glass where he waited for me. The
only man who ever cared. The only one who came when the rest
abandoned me. I didn’t care that his soul was black and that he was
using me to further his own agenda. He offered revenge and
vengeance, for my family that was taken from me by a brutal
murderer.

Clenching my fist, I used my other hand to
push the silver reflective aviator glasses back up my nose, the
sweat from the midday heat causing them to slide.

I was rewarded for my patience in the
sweltering heat, watching the teenager flounce down the stairs in
her teal dress, laughing with her friends who waved goodbye before
she headed to the empty gym. The same place she went every Thursday
to meet her pathetic excuse of a boyfriend. I smiled, knowing
exactly what she would find.

The scene changed and Jerry’s dark hands were
wound against the teenager’s neck, pulling not only the subtle
magic into his body but also her life force, binding the two
together.

“Excellent, Jerry,” his mentor crooned,
excited and aroused by Jerry’s skill and ruthlessness.

We left behind the gym for a darkened forest
where we followed prey larger than ourselves. Stealth was our ally.
Our magic wasn’t strong enough to confront him head on, yet.

Around another corner I peeked over my
shoulder seeing no one else on the path. Making my move, I sprinted
on silent feet, jumping onto the giant’s back and wrenching, as
quickly as possible mingling the two powers of life force and magic
into my own body. Taken by surprise, the giant had no time to throw
up his shields.

The faces flashed by one after another, after
another, until we looked down to the last. Our mentor.

“Jerry, you don’t’ have to do this.”

“I do.”

“I did it to help you.”

“You killed everyone I loved, and turned me
into a murderer with their souls locked within me! Trapped forever
inside of me!” I screamed, horror over what I had become finally
sinking in. “You used me in your own sick and twisted game.”
Lowering my face next to his I whispered “Don’t worry, I won’t take
your soul. I’m done with that.” With one swift pull I took his
massive power, merging it with my own before thrusting the dagger
into his heart.

Jerry was screaming in real time. I jerked
against my bonds at the sound. That was a lot to take in.

“Heartless bastard,” Destiny whispered. “That
was my father!”

Rapid breathing punctuated the silence before
Destiny barked out her next command.

“Olivia, show me all you know about the
Fae.”

No, no, no, I whispered, not sure if the
words were making it past my lips as I was flung into a memory I
had buried down deep.

Chomping on my gum, I watched Six lecturing
at the board. “The Fae are powerful magic users. Their ground game
leaves much to be desired, but not many can get close enough to
utilize that advantage.”

Seven scoffed next to me, “Like, no one.” I
turned, looking at her fire red hair. “It’s a fucking suicide
mission,” she informed me yet again.

I shrugged my sixteen-year-old shoulders, not
giving a fuck. The door opened to our classroom, Six freezing in
front as my Lord Master entered the room. Disgust clawed at my gut,
but I hid it, kept it all hidden under layers of false sexual
desire.

“Come with me,” he said, laying a hand
against my calf. My feet were propped up on the white desk in front
of me.

With a carefree smile I slid out of my seat.
“See you all on the flip side,” I called out, not sparing a look
behind me as I followed my Lord Master. The fucker probably wanted
a quickie before I got sent to certain death.

The door to his room slid open and I followed
him to where I shouldn’t be, but we had broken this rule often
enough. The smooth metal sliding home had my hands wanting to ball
up and kill him. I fought the urge. Soon, but not yet.

He came at me with a growl, pinning my body
against the wall before making short work of our clothing. Passion,
that’s what the books in the library called it. Exhausting acting
is what I called it. The fool always bought it, though, or rather
didn’t give a fuck as long as he was getting off, repeatedly. I’m
certain my performance wouldn’t have fooled a more observant bed
partner.

Getting dressed, I changed from my jeans into
working leathers, pulling a slim vest over my dark shirt. Lord
Master watched me, still sitting naked on the bed. “They aren’t
letting me come with you.”

“I know,” I answered softly.

He might have been a rapist, but he was my
rapist and he worried after me, protected me from being passed
around. It wasn’t much, but I would take it.

“They are up to something.”

Tying my dark blond hair back, I shrugged.
“When aren’t they?”

He scowled. “Selena shouldn’t be sending you
in. There are plenty of other flunkies she can sacrifice.”

“You heard her,” I reminded him, strapping on
my throwing knives to my upper thigh, “she has to prove her methods
work, prove I am all that she boasts.”

Lord Master scoffed, “It’s dangerous and
untried. There’s a reason no one has ever gone after the Fae.”

I didn’t disagree, but I was done getting
dressed. If the Fae killed me now, so be it. I couldn’t honestly
say I cared. Seven would be pissed at our thwarted escape plan,
though.

“Are you seeing me off?” I asked, standing in
front of the door.

He shook his head, turning away. I walked out
into the dark hallway, making my way to operations. No one stopped
me. Though I was a lone trainee wandering the halls by herself,
people knew me. Knew my killing reputation, knew the son of a bitch
I was tethered to. Knew I was the leading experiment in my group.
They gave me a wide berth.

The operations door slid open the same way
the Lord Master’s did and I took my place against the wall as the
General debated strategy. His dark skin glowed with an eerie
blueish haze in the darkened room as they went over their plan.

He watched me against the wall, his eyes
roving over my body with interest, followed immediately by guilt.
He didn’t like my Lord Master. He called him a pedophile on more
than one occasion. I still hadn’t figured out what that word meant.
Selena had just laughed.