Sorceress, Interrupted - By A. J. Menden Page 0,65
boss?”
The woman shook her head, surprising me. “Nothing of the sort. You are needed elsewhere. We were called to bring you in.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Bring me where, exactly?”
“To see our boss. Well, one of them, anyway,” said the man. “Your presence has been requested. It would be better for everyone if you came willingly.”
“And if I don’t?”
He smiled, an expression of cold malice. “We were told to bring you in alive. It wasn’t specified that you be unharmed—or that your little EHJ friends are to be left unharmed. I don’t think our boss will mind if we mess with them. You wouldn’t want that, would you? Especially that sweet little girl?”
I bristled but tried not to show it. I wasn’t going to let them know they had anything on me. And yet, here clearly illustrated was another reason why I should never enjoy friends or family and should keep people at a distance: it’s harder to be leveraged with innocent victims and hostages when you’ve shown little affection for the human race.
I returned the male cultist’s malicious smile. “Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere with you willingly.”
He glared at me hatefully.
I turned to address both of them. “If you want me, you’re going to have to work for it. It sure as hell isn’t going to be easy to take me anywhere against my will, especially not alive. And there’s no way you two are going to be able to do it on your own.”
“Oh, we know that. And we’re prepared.” The woman snapped her fingers. “Boys!”
A portal opened and people began pouring out. There were too many to count, and they were rapidly filling up the tiny apartment. London shrank back in fear, sobbing. I found myself not caring what happened to her at the moment.
“This is so not good,” I said to myself—and to Cyrus back at the EHJ headquarters. “There are way too many of them and there’s no space to fight.” Looking at the group amassing in front of me, I commanded, “Tornate indietro.”
The Dragon’s minions staggered back as if shoved by an unseen force, but more were coming at every moment. The group behind pushed everyone forward.
“Abbiate paura,” I called out, and several fell to the floor, weeping and shrieking in fear. I threw a shock spell at others, and an earthquake caused the floor to shake and knock a surging group off their feet. Things rattled all over London’s apartment. The books on the shelf toppled to the floor. But there were still enough cultists to surround me.
Someone launched a shock spell. I threw up a shield just in time but was still rocked backward by the force of it. Someone made a grab for me, and I managed to throw my own version of shock spell at them. Then another spell struck, some sort of drainer. It hit my shield and weakened it severely. Someone else’s arm lunged out to try to capture me. I dodged, but barely. It was getting too hard to defend and attack at the same time and still stay out of grasp. Where was Cyrus? Hadn’t he heard that I needed help?
Someone grabbed me by the arm then and I snapped, “Bruciate.” They pulled their hand back with a shriek, but not before I saw their blistered and burned hands. Served them right. But, hard as I was fighting, the odds were stacking up against me. I had to get out of there.
“Aprite il portale,” I said, but no portal opened before me. My momentary shock caused my defenses to weaken again, and someone hit me with some sort of spell that I couldn’t readily identify. It tingled and burned at the same time, a strange white-hot feeling that suffused my left side, mostly my arm and shoulder. The whole arm went numb. I hissed.
The woman from the hallway grinned. She was the one who had thrown the spell, and the little bitch was so going to pay for it.
“We’ve already locked down this floor,” she said. “No one can teleport in or out. So sorry. And just so you know, even if you do manage to escape, I just put a tracer on you. No matter where you go, sweetie, we can still find you and take you to our boss. So you might as well give up now. Make it easier on us, but more especially on you.”
I had to get out of there. I wasn’t going to be caught by these freaking cultists. No way.