Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,121

my stomach.

With the wind still in hand, I swirled it up into the sky, stirring the clouds. I immediately released it, hoping that I sent enough energy up in that direction that the momentum of the shifting weather took over. Over the years, I had become good at two types of spells: defensive and weather. I had had to learn to be good at conjuring defensive spells at the drop of a hat if I was going to outlive Simon. They could be tricky because the very art of magic was tricky. Most offensive spells were curses and they had to be deflected or unwound with very specific countercurses. Fear of Simon had taught me to recognize a spell before it left the fingers of the caster.

I had gotten good at weather spells because turbulent weather generated more energy in the area that a warlock or a witch could use. Not all warlocks or witches could tap that energy, but there were enough that I was potentially helping one of my opponents as much as I was trying to help myself.

At my left, I felt a new spell creeping toward me, a soft whisper of words on the edge of the energy that caused me to instantly stiffen with fear. Brownie was working a binding spell, but I couldn’t tell if it was a physical or a magic binding spell. Gideon had used a physical binding spell on me every once in a while to gain my undivided attention. The words of a countercurse flared to life in my mind, but I tweaked the spell, sweeping my hands through an intricate pattern before my chest. You couldn’t immediately unravel a binding spell once it was started. The countercurse always sent it back at the spell caster, but I knew this bastard would be prepared for such a thing.

On my right, Greasy shouted, his pale face growing unattractively red and splotchy. The binding spell had swept past me and hammered against him, leaving him waving his hands in the air harmlessly. There was a dead zone of energy surrounding him. Judging by the mixture of fear and rage radiating off it, the binding spell was a damn powerful one.

I sighed in relief, my right hand trembling and tingling slightly. It had been a close thing. I felt drained, and only one of the four was out of magical commission for now. A chuckle was rising in my chest when I felt the swell of energy at my back. The bitch had gotten her second wind. Unfortunately, my brain was moving too slowly under the temporary fatigue and the icy spell crashed through my defense like a rhino through wet tissue paper, throwing me to the ground. My back slammed against the gravel-strewn concrete and my head followed, lighting up a white glare before my eyes. My breath burst from my chest and I sucked in before I could stop myself. The air froze in my lungs like I had swallowed Freon, locking up my chest so I couldn’t breathe.

Panic swarmed over me, painfully tensing my muscles. Cold chills racked my body, making it nearly impossible to think. It felt as if the bitch had dipped me in water and dropped me naked in the middle of the Antarctic. I had to think of the countercurse, but the biting cold was making it impossible to concentrate. The words scattered within my brain, darting off in a thousand different directions.

Someone was shouting. It wasn’t me because I couldn’t draw a breath, but I could hear it over the pounding of my blood in my ears. Twisting on my side, I looked up to find Fox pointing at me while he shouted at the witch. A small swell of energy washed over my chest and I could suddenly breathe. The absolute wretched cold didn’t disappear, but I wasn’t going to suffocate.

“You idiot!” Fox screamed. “I need him alive! He’s useless to me dead!” A long knife flashed in his right hand from out of thin air as he moved in front of the woman. I could no longer see her, his larger body was blocking my view, but I saw his right hand reach back again and again. A sick, squishing and sucking sound echoed against the unnatural silence of the early evening as the blade sank into her chest with each thrust. No one moved except Fox as he stabbed the woman repeatedly.

Anger spent, he stepped back from her, letting the body crumple