“No takers?” Kelsey asked. “Because I can start picking you off, but I usually like to have an order in my head.”
Kor laughed, the sound jarring. “Stand down, female. I don’t intend to kill you. Why would I do that? Your corpse brings us nothing. I like my women still breathing when I fuck them.”
“I don’t care either way, General,” one of the smaller soldiers said, a leer in his eyes.
“You should run, Kelsey.” I could still make this work. If she could run, they wouldn’t waste their time following her when they had me. “They will do everything they say.”
“That’s an excellent reason to not run,” Kelsey replied. “How about I fix this problem for you and then we’re going to have a nice long talk. I’ve got about a million questions.”
“Are you going to make me put you in the ground, whore?” Kor asked.
Kelsey’s eyes rolled. “Are you Fae? Because I didn’t bring cold iron bullets. I work for this Fae dude and he takes exception to them. And you are so lucky I didn’t bring Gladys. I didn’t realize I was going to be sucked into another freaking dimension, so I’m without any of my necessaries.”
Kor seemed to have decided he was sick of playing with his food. “I don’t know who your Gladys is, but I’m about to see your head on the end of my sword. I’ll teach you not to run with outlaws. Get Her Majesty and make sure she doesn’t slip away. It won’t take me long to kill this whore.”
Kelsey’s lips curled up and she lifted her right hand. I watched as it changed. She was a shapeshifter, but one with spectacular control since the rest of her body stayed humanlike. Except her eyes. I would have sworn those were the eyes of a wolf.
But her hand wasn’t wolf-like at all. Her hand was pure demon. The skin turned a vibrant red, and nasty talons sprouted from her fingertips.
Was she an assassin? Had the Hell plane sent their emissaries?
I took a step back, but suddenly there were hands gripping my arms. Pain flared through me because one of the soldiers had claws, and he didn’t mind sinking them into my flesh.
I could feel my power. It was all there, bubbling under my surface. I could kill them all in the blink of an eye and I wouldn’t even feel weak from the use. My power was an endless well and I’d never once found the bottom of it.
But I knew where the top was. It was in the charm that rested around my throat, the only thing that stopped me from drawing on the magic I’d been born into. According to some, I was magic. I had so much power, Turi believed I could fuel whole planes of existence without batting an eye.
I could destroy whole planes, too. I could destroy the world without even thinking about it, and that was why I wore the necklace. That was why I took the pain.
Because once, I’d been the pain, and everyone I’d loved had suffered.
I grimaced as the soldier holding me tightened his grip.
Kelsey reached into her jacket with her still human-looking hand and came back with a metallic object.
Gun. The word flashed through my head. I’d seen one before. This was a weapon of the Earth plane. I’d stopped this weapon once. I could hear a masculine voice speaking to me, telling me how to stop the bullet coming our way. My mother had taken one but managed to protect me. Then a man had held me, and he’d been the one to understand how to communicate with me. But it hadn’t been my father. My father had been trapped in his own body, unable to wake due to the sun’s position in the sky.
“What is that thing?” Kor asked.
Kelsey smiled and pointed it right at the soldier currently mangling my arm. “Let me show you.”
A loud boom burst from the gun and seemed to echo through the forest. Immediately the claw in my arm relaxed and the soldier dropped to the ground.
Kor stood there, sword in hand, staring at the male on the ground. It was obvious to me he wouldn’t get up again.
“Huh,” Kelsey said with a huff. “I guess when you take the old brainpan out you don’t need cold iron. Good to know.” She turned her attention back to Kor. “As a wise Earth man once said, this is my boom stick. You want a piece of it? And the next one of you who makes that kid there bleed is not going down as easy as the last one, if you know what I mean. Summer, get behind me.”
Instead, I picked up the soldier’s sword. It had dropped when the bullet had bisected his mostly unused brain. Yes, that might not be a kind thing to think of the recently deceased, but anyone who followed Turi deserved it. He demanded absolute obedience from his men, so they were all pretty much bleating sheep in the end. The sword, however, was pretty nice. Turi didn’t spare the expense when it came to weaponry. It was heavy for me, but I could wield it.
“I don’t need to hide now,” I explained to my new friend before I brought the sword up and back, making contact with the complete idiot who’d been sneaking up behind me. Like I couldn’t hear him breathing and walking. The sword made hard contact with the soldier’s leather vest. Luckily I’m pretty strong, and I put my full weight behind that thrust.
I heard a low groan as I shoved it through his chest.
“I like you, Summer,” Kelsey said, moving toward Kor, who seemed to understand that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d thought it would be. He had his sword up and his remaining men flanked him. “But until we have that talk, I need you alive. I can handle these guys.”
“Yes, apparently you can use your boom stick. I’ve heard it called a gun.” Just because it seemed like Kelsey was perfectly competent, and she’d told me herself she wasn’t evil, I wasn’t about to drop the sword and sit back while she fought.
“Oh, you’re going to be so much fun.”
I wasn’t sure if she was talking about me or killing all the men in our vicinity because she immediately went to work. She shot the soldier coming up on her left. It was obvious to me the woman had incredible aim, almost preternatural, because she’d barely glanced the man’s way and yet a neat hole had appeared right between his eyes. She didn’t look back to make sure she’d gotten him. She’d moved on to dealing with Kor. She kicked out, shoving him back before he could bring that sword down.
“Do you know who you’re protecting?” Kor asked, snarling Kelsey’s way. “They call her the Destroyer for a reason. You would do the planes better to give her into my custody. Only my king can control her evil.”
Though I knew he was wrong, shame still flooded my system. It’s a terrible nickname. Summer, the Destroyer.
“Oh, I’ll control her evil if I need to. She doesn’t know it yet, but it’s kind of my job, and I’ll totally take her off your hands. If she destroys things, I’ve got a few people I would like her to work that mojo on,” Kelsey said right before she turned and shot the soldier running at her from behind.
She missed that male, or rather he ducked at an excellent time and her shot went wide. Kor started to attack. His men followed his example and I found myself hefting the sword I’d found as one of them came after me.
“Don’t kill her!” Kor shouted out.
Pain flared along my shoulders as I blocked a sword that would have come down on my throat. Due to the unique nature of my being, I heal fairly quickly, and Turi’s soldiers knew that. However, with my magic contained, I wasn’t sure if even I could heal a slit throat. I forced myself to fight back, though the sword wasn’t my favorite weapon. I went on the offensive but now there were two soldiers attacking, one to my front and one at my side. I moved between them, trying to back away.