them across the room.
Sucking in a slender thread of air as I tried to fight my way free, I tapped the energy in the air and sent it out in a raw, angry blast. Some small part of my brain prayed that Serah wasn’t in the direct path of the energy, but I was too oxygen starved to give it much thought. I just knew that Bronx would be able to survive it.
Panicked screams filled the air as my enemies scampered away. Someone new shouted above the din and the screams immediately stopped. I didn’t recognize the language that was encased in the howl, but it didn’t sound friendly.
A twisted spell glowed in the forefront of my mind. I didn’t know if I had glimpsed it in a book or if it was the conjuring of my own panic, but the feel of it was dark and violent. My stomach churned at the thought of letting this loose, and yet I still gathered together the energy. I wanted the death and destruction to stop. I wanted the violence to end. I might not have started this fight, but I was ready to fucking finish it.
“Stop!” Serah shouted somewhere to my right. “Everyone stop! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“Light!” I barked, throwing out my right arm. The only sound in the suddenly dense silence was the soft patter of my blood raining from my arm as I moved it.
Several balls of white light jumped from my fingertips and elegantly floated upward until they reached a ceiling two stories above us. A quick glance around revealed that we were in an old theater and surrounded by goblins. Fuck. This wasn’t good at all.
Serah was being held by the back of her thick coat by the tallest of the goblins, his orange eyes reflecting with a sickening menace as he glared at me. The TAPSS investigator didn’t look as if she had been harmed. Only her knit cap was a little askew.
Bronx was leaning on one knee to my left. His heavy wool coat had been shredded by the goblins and there were several cuts on his body that were slowly bleeding. Looking over at me, he gave me a small nod to indicate that he was okay. Trolls could take a beating, but no one wanted to take on a horde of goblins. They weren’t strong or even particularly smart, but they had numbers on their side. Take out one, and three more were waiting to take his place.
“It’s a misunderstanding,” Serah repeated, trying to keep her voice calm now that we were no longer trying to kill each other.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
Another goblin stepped forward, slighter in build with long, stringy black hair. I had a feeling that this one was a female, though there was still nothing attractive about her appearance. However, she quickly settled all doubts when she opened her mouth, revealing a hauntingly melodious voice. “You’re hunting the pregnant women of this city.”
I had to give my head a little shake as if to clear it before I could bring myself to respond. Her voice was so strangely contrary to her appearance. It was like listening to a nightingale’s song leap from the snout of a warthog. “I’m not. I’m trying to protect them.”
“Lies,” the goblin holding Serah shouted. “You attacked us! Set our home on fire!”
“I didn’t! You attacked us first!” I yelled back. It was much easier to argue with this asshole. He sounded like he was aching for a fight and I was more than ready to give it to him.
“You lied to enter our home,” the female pointed out.
The next words died in my throat. There was something about the sound. I didn’t want to argue with her. It was almost a compulsion. This goblin could have given the sirens a lesson or two about control.
“We tried the truth, but your people kept slamming the door in our face,” Serah explained while I fought to untangle my tongue. “We came to discuss the murders with you. We wanted to know if you had heard or seen anything.” She unzipped her coat and reached into an inner pocket to produce the little leather wallet that held her TAPSS badge. “We’re trying to catch the killer.”
The female frowned at the badge. I couldn’t tell if she just wasn’t impressed with it or if she was more concerned about the fact that Serah represented an officer of the law. TAPSS might not have any kind of jurisdiction over