bedeviled & beyond 04 - bedeviled & belittled by sam cheever Read Free Book Online Page A

racing heart to let go of my arm and call off your friend.”
    He lowered those bushy brows at me. “What are you gonna do to me if I don’t?”
    I fired just enough power into his scrawny chest to send him flying back to the stoop from whence he’d come. He crashed against the concrete steps with a groan and slid down into a messy pile at the bottom. “I’m gonna do that.” I responded.
    Darma’s “friend” suddenly cried out and pulled away from her, his lip bleeding where she’d obviously bitten him. “Bitch!” He lifted a hand and slapped her, hard, sending her reeling backward. A thick, red haze filled my gaze. Before I knew what I was doing I was on him, slamming him to the ground. I clutched his throat with one hand and placed the other one on his forehead.
    He gagged and gasped under the tightening fingers around his throat.
    I pulled my power forward, letting it shimmer on my fingertips. My eyes narrowed in joy as I savored the surge of power warming and rolling its way through my body. My skin began to pulse as I held the energy inside and I licked my lips, enjoying the look of pure fear throbbing in my victim’s eyes.
    The scent of urine filled the air.
    “To Hades with you fool, for God hath tired of you.”
    A cold, soft hand clamped around my wrist and warmth touched my back. Darma’s angry voice filled my ear, her breath tickling across my face. I was dimly aware of her presence, beyond the throbbing of power through my body. “Stop, Astra. Pull it back. He’s not worth the stain on your soul.”
    I chewed my bottom lip, doubt sliding in to disrupt my power high. The energy started to thin and scatter. I shook my head and gathered it back up. “He needs to die.”
    “No, Astra. He needs to live to remember how it feels to be helpless, a victim. Just like he’s made probably countless others feel. He’s a puny bully, Astra. That’s all.”
    The power pulsed hard at my fingertips. I was a single breath away from releasing it. The level of power I’d accumulated in my fingers would vaporize the human quivering beneath my thighs.
    It was overkill.
    On some level my mind realized that.
    On some level, buried deep beneath the raging energy, I knew I didn’t want to kill the human. I knew Darma was right.
    Damn! I hated when Darma was right.
    I shook my head. The guy beneath me cried out as a thin stream of power leeched from my fingertips, burning his skin and sending the smoky scent of cooked meat into the air.
    “Stop it, Astra!” She pulled on me, trying to drag me away from the creep on the ground. But power-drenched as I was, she had no hope of pulling me away. She stood with an angry rush of breath and I could hear her stamping her foot in frustration.
    A smile slid onto my face. My power dimmed.
    “I’ll tell Myra what you’ve done, Astra. What do you think she’ll do?”
    The power scattered and started to slide away. I didn’t try to recapture it. Standing up, I turned to face her.
    Her pretty face was nearly purple with rage. Her hands were on her hips and she glared at me from under lowered, blonde brows.
    “You’re gonna tell on me!” My voice held a certain shriekish quality that was decidedly unattractive.
    She nodded.
    “We’re not five years old, Darma.”
    “No we certainly are not, Astra. Which is why I would expect you to show more restraint. He’s just a pathetic bully. You were prepared to vaporize him. Get some perspective, Astra.”
    “You’re welcome, dammit!”
    As if I’d reminded her of what he’d done, she reached up and touched her pale cheek, which had started to darken to an ugly purple. She shrugged and, then, glancing behind me, her pretty blue eyes widened.
    “Bitch!”
    I spun and grabbed the pipe the creep swung toward my head and wrenched it easily from his hand. Then, casting my sister a defiant look, I swung it hard at his midsection, enjoying the crunching sound as it connected with his ribs.
    He went down hard, gasping for breath. His