That did not mean I was in control of it. Not by a long shot.

“It has to go away,” I whispered, half begging. “It has to go away, or I will kill it.”

Easy, mon coeur. Patience. It did not see us. The spells are working. It will move on. Even with bad vision, it only needs a couple sweeps to see all. We simply must wait.

Sweat beaded on my brow. I chewed on my lip.

The vulture passed to our left, looking down on the great expanse of empty space. It circled a tree that was a bit larger than the others, as though trying to see every nook and cranny before moving on. Trying to find stowaways.

It acted like it was the most deadly thing in this part of the kingdom.

It wasn’t. I wanted to prove it.

I squeezed my eyes shut as my power pumped higher. Round and round it rotated, begging me to do something. To assert my will. Prove my dominance.

My skin felt too tight. My blood throbbed in my veins.

At the same time, the rush of rage, paired with the deep ache of love, felt so good. So raw. I felt Darius deep down. Felt my sword pushing against my back. The weight of my gun. I cherished the memories of my mother. My gratitude and loyalty to Callie and Dizzy. Fire. Ice.

The purple film in front of us melted away, disintegrating before my eyes. My power pushed out around us, tearing down the other spells. Burning through our cover.

The vulture, passing to our right toward the distant trees, issued a loud screech. It pumped its wings, gaining speed. For one brief moment I thought it would head away. Thought it hadn’t noticed. But instead, it folded up its wings and dove straight for us with an avian-type battle cry.

This bird wasn’t here to seek and report. It was here to attack.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Fight.

That one thought from Darius was enough to break my dam of control.

I stepped away from the tree like a commander joining the field of battle. I thrust a hand into the air. Air encircled the bird, the distance not a problem. Power roared through me, so sweet it cut. So pure it lifted me up.

Literally.

I rose into the sky and clenched my fist. The vulture screamed, stopping mid-air.

Another flew out over the trees, pumping its wings frantically, spreading its clawed feet to strike. Its speed was amazing.

I ripped the first bird out of the sky and catapulted it down for Darius to deal with. The moment I released it, it turned for me, not able to see Darius. It hopped forward, ready to beat its wings and elevate enough to use its mighty claws.

Without delay, Darius was on it, attacking it from behind with his own claws out.

When I spun around to face its friend, the giant bird was twenty feet away and closing fast.

“Hells bells, they do move fast.” I ripped up my hands. The bird lifted its feet to score me. I batted it away with air before enclosing it in a firestorm. My energy, low to begin with, felt the drain.

We must go. Now! Darius grabbed my arm and pulled, dragging me back to the ground.

“Why are they attacking us?” I said, spinning and running behind him. “Do you think word has spread about me?”

It was diving before it could be sure of who you were. No, it wasn’t you specifically. I can only guess that we are on the doorstep of another sect, and they do not want visitors.

When I saw my new pouch-wearing demon friend, we’d have words.

We didn’t get any closer to the horizon, but suddenly the light clicked off and our surroundings changed drastically.

Darius skidded to a stop so quickly I hit his back. My eyes went wide, my stomach flip-flopped, and my lungs burned, suddenly dry of air.

We stood on a bluff overlooking the middle of the Dark Kingdom. I’d expected a few things, but nothing like this.

Nothing like this.

A castle a la Beauty and the Beast rose up in the distance, large and majestic with pointy spires and various towers. Green swathed its base, dotted with color from what I could only assume were roses or other flowers. The air around it twinkled with fairy lights and the sky was dark and filled with a milky way of stars.

“Gorgeous,” I said in a strangely raspy voice. It must’ve been the lack of air. “It has to be another illusion, though, right? Because it’s hazy and seems much too close.”

The bluff on which we stood seemed to be offering the wayward traveler, or someone returning from a long journey, all the wonder and majesty that was my father’s home.

I blinked away the image, not allowing myself to be seduced by the loveliness. This wasn’t why I was here, and like so many other things in this place, it was an illusion.

Ready? Darius thought, looking at me.

“Yeah.” The wide path in front of us led down the hill and disappeared around a bend. A hedge rose up, and razor-sharp spikes gleamed within it. “That doesn’t look friendly.”

No. Let’s try not to be noticed.

Easy for him to say. He was still virtually invisible.

We took off and drifted to the opposite side of the spike-infested hedge, moving toward another bend up ahead. The castle’s image dissipated. I was happy for it. I needed to keep my wits.

Darius crouched at the intersection up ahead, looking in both directions. I joined him, staying low and as small as possible. The path had formed a T, and I knew we had to go left for our destination.

He tensed to rise and I grabbed his shoulder to keep him put, hearing shuffling from the very direction we needed to go. He’d already hesitated, though, hearing it as well.

It didn’t take long to see what was making the sound. A group of four demons crept along, huge creatures with thick, corded muscles. Insects traveled their bodies, disappearing into cracks and coming out elsewhere, like they were eating through rotting flesh. Two held large spears, and the others sported claws.

I felt their power pulsing, strong and cold, aching through my body in the most delicious of ways. These demons were packing some serious power. Serious power. And I was dragging like a college kid at the end of a week-long bender.

My hand was still on Darius’s shoulder, and now I squeezed, worried. If I felt their power so clearly, would they be able to feel mine? It was only somewhat masked by my suit. If they looked our way, my only hope was that Darius’s suit would mostly block me from view. Otherwise, it was on like Donkey Kong, and they’d have a helluva lot more control with their magic than I did with mine.

The beings paused on the path, rigid.

I braced, ready to grab my sword, when a new feeling washed over me. Spicy sweet, prickling my skin and eliciting a moan of delight. Fire magic. Raw and pure; just as powerful as the demons we could see, but much more familiar. I couldn’t see them, but I could feel them, another group of extremely powerful demons in the vicinity.

Darius wouldn’t know a second set of demons were afoot. I thought as hard as I could. We’re about to witness a battle. We need to get to cover.

At least I did.

He didn’t move or indicate he’d “heard” me.

A group of three demons surged out from the path on the right. As they ran, spears burst from the hedge, preceding them in an advance attack. The spears didn’t land.

Invisible hands swatted them away, icy power filling the air and bolstering my own magic. I could almost see the complex weave the demons used curling through the air.

A demon from the right shot a ball of fire at the original crew. It rolled and boiled along the path. The ice demons couldn’t defuse it in time, and it sliced through one of them, chopping through a limb and singeing the side of its body.

A snake slithered from around the wounded demon’s side before biting near the wound. The wound began to stitch together. Another slithered out of its leg, heading up to the shoulder. I watched in awe for a moment as the dang thing worked on growing the arm back! Holy crap. That snake wasn’t such a bad find after all.

Ice magic rose up as solidified air, but the fire cut it down quickly. These demons were clearly on the same power level but with opposing magic, and they knew exactly how to use it on each other.

I watched in fascination, my need to hide utterly forgotten.

The two groups crashed into each other. A demon jabbed a spear forward with blinding speed. Its target angled just enough to miss it. The first retaliated with an attack of slashing claws. The would-be victim dodged. The aggressor created a sort of knife with ice. Fire burrowed through, breaking it apart.