AWitchsSkill by Ashley Shayne Read Free Book Online Page B

roared as he regained control and leaped into the fray. I hoped Acayo
would be able to deal with both of them and turned my full attention to the
warlock. He gasped as I pushed against his mind and I was grateful I’d taken my
potion before we’d left. I’d guessed right; they weren’t prepared for us. If
they had been, the warlock would have traps or would be powered up like I was.
His lack of foresight meant he was absolutely no match for me. I laughed,
somewhat evilly, I admit it, as the barrier in his mind cracked and I was in. I
pulled him out of consciousness sharply and he crumpled to the ground. He’d
sleep until I woke him—something I had no intention of doing until I’d gotten
some things straight—so I turned my attention back to the fight.
    I scrambled backward on the floor and narrowly avoided being
hit by a flying twin. I didn’t have time to see which one, but by the way his
body slumped to the ground I figured that whichever one he was, he was out of
the picture. I looked back to the fight in time to see Acayo take a solid punch
to the face. He reeled backward but recovered quickly and launched forward to
wrap his arms around the other one’s waist, taking him down in a perfect
tackle. They hit the ground and Acayo swarmed upward to sink his teeth into the
remaining twin’s neck. A few moments of horrible sucking sounds later, he let
the twin sink to the ground.
    “Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned,” I told him,
eyeing the bodies ruefully. I felt a little sick. Though I’d seen dead people
before, they tended not to be the recently deceased kind. The difference
between a body on a slab and the still-warm body of someone to whom you’d been
speaking a minute before was extreme. I fought down nausea and tried to be
practical. “And now we’re left with a live warlock to do something about.”
    Acayo eyed the unconscious man.
    “I could just kill him now, if you want?” he asked politely.
    I shook my head in response. It hardly seemed necessary.
    I went to kneel next to the unconscious warlock and consider
my options. I gestured at the door and Acayo went to poke his head out. A
moment later, he returned to me with a nod. I blessed the loud music in the
club and pulled chalk out of my bag. I marked the warlock in and woke him with
a spell. He snapped awake immediately and scrambled up, gaze taking in his dead
masters with fear.
    “Who else knows about us?” I asked him sharply.
    “No one,” he replied in a quivering voice. “They paid me and
they’re dead. There’s no one else I know of. They didn’t want word to get out,
in case they failed.”
    I considered him and was about to speak a truth spell when
Acayo stopped me.
    “He speaks truth. I can hear it,” he murmured.
    I nodded in reply and began the spell I’d prepared before we
left. Quickly, I wiped all memory of us from his mind, leaving only the idea
that he’d come for a first meeting with the twins, just in time to see them
killed by an older couple. He would flee as quickly as he could. Satisfied, I
knocked the warlock out and released my wards.
    We left quickly and I thought the waitress had missed our
exit. With any luck, it would be a few hours before the bodies were discovered.
I assumed the warlock could take care of himself. Outside again, we hesitated
before I suggested heading back to my apartment to regroup. We stopped midway
back to my car, hidden from sight in a dark park, and I released our disguises
quickly.
    We returned to the car without attracting attention. We got
in and I realized I was shaking a bit as I stuck the key in the ignition. Acayo
must have noticed, because he got out and came around to the driver’s side to
take over. Although a man wanting to do the driving would normally annoy me, I was
so tired I climbed over into the passenger seat without complaint. We arrived
back at the apartment and made it in without any nasty surprises. Alone in my
quiet place, I found myself suddenly