Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,86
its hinges, I pushed outward through the building. Sounds of stumbling filled the silence. Large crates fell over and crashed to the ground, and still I pushed until the energy reached the outer walls. Wood creaked and groaned before one board after another flew off the large windows that lined the walls. Loud guttural shouts echoed through the empty building as large squares of light shot through the air to land in regular patches on the floor. The shadows receded, but then so did the dark figures that had been looming in the blackness, waiting for me.
As I stepped onto the main floor of the mill, I found that I was alone except for the ogre who had held the door open. There was some shuffling coming from the deeper shadows near the back of the warehouse and behind some of the large machinery that had never been taken from the building. I didn’t see any new giant-size lawn ornaments, to my relief. Apparently none of the trolls had been caught by the light. I didn’t mind beating the shit out of these assholes, but I was trying to avoid killing anyone if I could help it. Well, anyone but Reave.
Loud clapping jerked my head up to a second-floor catwalk that looked down on the main floor. Reave was standing overhead, a twisted grin on his thin lips. “Well, this is a surprise. Someone isn’t too worried about the Towers, now, is he?”
“Why should I worry about the Towers when you’re determined to destroy us all?” I shouted, tapping down the urge to rip him off the catwalk with a surge of energy. I didn’t need to. With a hiss, Reave vaulted over the rusted metal railing and landed lightly on his toes right in front of me.
“That’s just it. None of us should feel the need to worry about how the Towers will react,” he snarled. “You’re all power-hungry monsters determined to wipe us from the earth. You need to be stopped.”
“Yes, they need to be stopped.” I sidestepped him, trying to keep a comfortable distance between us as we circled each other. “But whatever you’ve got planned is going to get everyone killed when a new war breaks out. That’s what you’re driving us toward. Not freedom. Just death.” I was unarmed except for my magic and Reave was fucking fast. The meat cleaver I melted earlier was starting to look pretty damn good.
“You’re afraid—”
“Of course I’m fucking scared! You’re threatening my family and friends. You’re threatening millions of people who have never done a damned thing to you.”
Reave sprang at me, swinging his fist at my face. I ducked away at the last second, but it was close enough that I could feel the breeze against the tip of my nose. I threw a couple punches at him but never connected. The bastard was too fast.
Large beefy arms wrapped around my chest from behind, pinning my arms to my sides. The arms squeezed my chest, making it difficult to draw a deep breath. I had forgotten about the ogre who had opened the door for me. He’d snuck up on me while I was busy with Reave.
The dark elf laughed as he came closer, watching me struggle. I kicked out with both feet, hitting Reave in the chest with enough force to send him stumbling backward onto his ass. At the same time I jerked my head back, breaking the ogre’s nose when it crashed into his face. The ogre dropped me on a howl of pain as he backpedaled.
Landing easily, I turned in a circle on my toes, waving my arms in the air as I called together large amounts of magical energy. The air crackled and my skin tingled against the charge as I was gathering. This wasn’t so much a spell as it was me forcibly moving around energy. Regardless, Gideon was going to put my ass in a sling any second now, but I couldn’t stop. As I turned to face the ogre on my second turn, I pushed the energy outward, knocking him on his back and thrusting him out of the building through the open doorway. I continued to spin, turning back to face Reave in time to see him rise to his feet. Throwing my arms out to my sides, I shoved the trolls gathered in the shadows against the wall, leaving me alone to deal with the Svartálfar.
“I want the names of the people you plan to sell the