Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,50

on the sunken sofa. With my wand tightly clenched in my right hand, I lay back and draped my left arm over my eyes while kicking off my sneakers. It was only now that I was alone in the suffocating silence of the apartment that I realized how exhausted I was as well as sore.

Business at the parlor had been steady, but not hectic. While the little adventure at the garden hadn’t been particularly clean, it had been successful. At some point tomorrow, I’d have to divvy up the flower and call my buyers, but for now, it was safe in the shop in its little brown paper bag.

It was the chaos that was brewing with Reave and the Towers that felt like a fucking gorilla sitting on my chest. I hadn’t talked to my brother since leaving the apartment that afternoon and it hadn’t been the happiest of partings. But then anything that had to do with the Towers was a big downer.

I felt bad for my brother. Not only had my being born a warlock fucked up his life, but I knew that when he looked at me, he saw someone damaged, broken beyond repair. Who wanted that in the family? I didn’t know what happened to the families of warlocks and witches. Never thought about it. I knew the families were instructed to tell the world that the kids had died, because they never expected to see them again. But what if the world found out they gave birth to a great killer? I can’t imagine there are that many support groups out there for them. Were grieving women sneaking off to Mothers of Warlocks/Witches Anonymous?

Sleep settled over me for a short time, so that my mind wasn’t churning about in useless circles. My thoughts slipped away and a blissful blankness cradled me, but it didn’t last long. At least, it didn’t feel like I’d slept long.

An intense buzzing ran over my arms, as if electricity had jumped from the nearest outlet and was trying to burrow into my flesh. My hand reflexively tightened on my wand, but I didn’t lower my arm from my eyes as I continued to lie on the sofa. I strained with all my senses, trying to place the feeling that had jolted me awake. Someone was using magic very close to me. I guess that answered the million-dollar question as to who was going to arrive at my apartment first.

There were no sounds beyond my own uneven breathing and the distant hum of the refrigerator. Whoever was using the magic had yet to enter my apartment. I lowered my arm from my eyes and looked around the living room. Only the light in the kitchen was on, spilling through the rest of the apartment. Thick shadows crowded around the living room, but I was alone.

As I sat up, the buzzing feeling that I had felt upon waking returned. A second later, the front door exploded inward as it was blown off its hinges. The warped plank of wood hit the opposite wall and was left partially blocking the hallway to the bedroom and bathroom. A woman with a wand clutched in one hand lunged into the room and screamed, her body instantly wrapped in a white net of energy. She shrieked and writhed where she stood, unable to move her arms so she could use her wand. Her mind was locked in a fog of pain, leaving her powerless to remove the spell that held her.

I couldn’t stop the smile that rose to my mouth as I stood. I loved it when those arrogant pricks underestimated me. Gideon didn’t, but then Gideon was smart enough to watch me; smart enough to know that if I survived several encounters with my former mentor, then I obviously knew how to weave a spell or two. This bitch assumed that since I left the Towers when I was a teenager, I didn’t know shit about protecting myself. She easily blew through the first ward guarding the door, but didn’t bother to check for anything else before entering my apartment.

Raising my wand to banish her from my place, I shouted when the sliding doors exploded, covering me in glass. I didn’t risk looking around to see who else was knocking on my door. Diving forward past the witch, I rolled until I hit the cracked and stained linoleum of the kitchen. My heart was pounding loud enough in my ears that I could barely hear