Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
She closed her hand into a fist and felt all seven of the cultists respond to her pixie lights. She ground her teeth together to hold that many at once. Even untrained human minds were a struggle without the full force of her magic.
“Follow me,” she commanded down the lure.
Then she stood and ran as the monsters unleashed upon Times Square.
She felt each of the seven minds take off behind her as she ran for the alley. As with all magic, it was about intent. What she wanted them to do and how willing they were to do it. It was much easier to convince someone to do something they already wanted to do. And all seven of the cultists now desperately wanted to escape.
If she had tried to force any one of them to follow her against their will, she might have not been able to get any out. When Graves used his magic to push the monsters into action, it created the unsafe situation that forced all of the cultists to want to leave with her.
Which was good because it hadn’t been safe for them in the first place.
Six cultists.
Kierse jerked her head over her shoulder to see Katherine collapse to the ground as a vampire lunged on top of her.
“Oh shit,” she cried. “Katherine…”
But she couldn’t go back for her. And for a moment, she was trapped in the Monster War all over again. Locked in that interminable fight that she had thought she would never escape. The fear radiated through her.
But all she’d had then was her wits and the thieving ring. Now she had her magic, and she would get out of this.
Five cultists.
Kierse winced as another was taken down by a mer’s trident just as they made it through to the empty alley. She released four of them as they fled Times Square. But one, she held onto, pushing him against the brick wall as they both breathed heavily. Kierse turned her lure the direction she wanted him to go, and like the walking dead, he headed blank-eyed to the alleyway. She let the magic dissipate when he reached the darkness, air puffing out of her lungs in a burst from the effort.
His eyes widened with alarm as she struggled to hold him with her magic, just as Graves rounded the corner.
That thief smile played on his features. Like he’d had fun inciting a riot.
“This is the one?” Graves asked.
“I should go,” he said, coming up out of the fog.
And that was when Graves pistol-whipped the man, knocking him out cold. When he looked into her concerned face, he just shrugged and said, “I never torture in public.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Graves banged on a blank metal door, which slid open, and a wary, bearded face appeared in the entryway.
Vale sighed. “What present did you bring me?”
“Can we come in?”
Vale nodded, stepping out of the way to let Graves enter with the cultist. Kierse grinned at the medieval LARPer aesthetic that was Vale’s appearance and home.
“Hey, Vale.”
“My lady,” he said with a bow at the waist.
Today he was in dark pants, tall brown leather boots, and a burgundy hooded coat. He had weapons slid into a matching brown leather belt with an actual sword hanging at his waist. His shoulder-length, dark hair looked as unkempt as ever, and his nearly black eyes seemed displeased by their appearance.
“I thought you would have taken a hint,” Vale said as he slammed the door shut.
Graves set the cultist down on a chair and glanced up. “Rope?”
Vale pointed at a wooden chest, and Graves threw the lid to find it full of rope and chains. “I’m busy right now.”
“Too busy for an interrogation?” Graves asked as he began tying their captive to the chair. “It’ll be quick. He’s human.”
Vale grumbled under his breath. He was the child of a warlock but not exactly magic himself. Kierse found the whole thing complicated. But he resided here in the market instead of the city, living out his medieval weaponry dreams.
Graves finished off his knots with precision. He looked really good at that.
“You’ve done that before.”
His gaze lifted to her, a gleam in those gray eyes. “Not my first time.”
“Vale!” a woman’s voice called from down the hall.
Kierse raised her eyebrows at Graves, who just smirked. “Ah, I didn’t realize you were that kind of busy, Vale.”
Vale huffed and headed down the hallway. “Make it quick.”
It was only a few minutes before the cultist woke up, looking around the room in a panic. “What…what did you do to me?”
Kierse had her arms crossed a few feet away. Graves leaned against the dining room table. He slowly plucked his gloves off his hands. She had to keep a straight face as she watched the man’s apparent terror.
“Oh, Sansara, you’re him.”
“I’m him,” Graves agreed.
“I don’t know anything,” he cried, looking half ready to sob.