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Authors: Bradford Bates
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think of what Marcus or April would have done. Next time there was no way I was leaving home without my swords.
With nothing left that I could do but use my gift, I tried to think of the right spell to use. This thing didn’t feel pain, so whatever I did would have to kill it or dismember it enough to where it couldn’t get me. There wasn’t enough time to think. The beast was pulling itself free from the door, leaving long, bloodless holes down its sides. Taking a step back I cast out a lance of power. It was something Marcus had shown me recently. It took almost all of my power to do it, but a concentrated blast could rip through almost anything.
Somehow I missed the creature in front of me almost completely. When I told this story to Britta, I was going to have to leave this part out. The bolt of power sheared through the side of the freezer door, taking part of the beast’s back leg with it. The bad news was I had also freed it from its confinement. The huge monster stood on its back legs and let out another of the horrible gurgle growls before crashing back to all fours and charging straight at me.
This was the moment they had been telling us about in training at the academy. The moment when it came down to you versus whatever you were fighting, with death on the line. This was your chance to react and maybe one day be the quality fighter the Ascendancy needed, or die. I didn’t want to die. I cast another bolt of power—this time my aim was true. The creature lunged at me. My bolt slammed into its head, blowing it apart. The momentum had sent the now lifeless body crashing into me, its claws tearing a gash down my chest. I rolled away and hit it with every ounce of power I had. The body burst into a bright white light, and then there was nothing but ash.
The inspector was behind me, and it seemed as if he had things well in hand. His opponent circled him, trying to keep him off center, but must have forgotten about me. I cast a spell out that sent him crashing to his knees. The inspector leaped forward to finish him but was thrown back once again. He gave me a look, and I thought I knew what he wanted. The man in front of us slowly rose to his feet. I could feel him gathering his magic for one final burst. I cast my magic out and shattered what he had been gathering, leaving him defenseless. In a move I hadn’t expected, the inspector pulled out a gun and fired at the man three times. The man’s body shook with each impact, and he fell forward.
I watched the smoke flow from the barrel of the inspector’s gun. He gave me a wink and blew on the tip as if he was in an old Western movie. “I knew that we had firearms training, but I’ve never seen one of the gifted use a gun before.”
“Well, they don’t do a lot of good against other gifted; our personal shields will deflect most bullets. But when you shattered his magic, I thought why not end it with something he wouldn’t be expecting.”
“What does it matter? Dead is dead. Wouldn’t it be better just to make sure he died instead of trying to look amazing while doing it?”
“Dead? Oh, he isn’t dead, just in a lot of pain.”
I looked back over at the man on the ground, the puddle of blood quickly pooling around him. “Inspector, are you sure?”
“Yeah, it takes a lot more than a few bullet holes to bring one of us down. Our natural healing kicks in, so as long as he was to receive proper medical care before being killed outright, he will be ok.”
“I’m not sure I want him to be ok. Did you see that thing he was controlling?”
“You mean the huge undead werewolf? It was kind of hard to miss.”
“So why risk keeping him alive?”
“Well, we need answers, and unfortunately I don’t know how to get them out of dead bodies.”
“Do some people know how to do that?”
“I think that is a good question for you to ask Adam next time you see him.”
I’d been around enough people in power now to know when I wasn’t going to
With nothing left that I could do but use my gift, I tried to think of the right spell to use. This thing didn’t feel pain, so whatever I did would have to kill it or dismember it enough to where it couldn’t get me. There wasn’t enough time to think. The beast was pulling itself free from the door, leaving long, bloodless holes down its sides. Taking a step back I cast out a lance of power. It was something Marcus had shown me recently. It took almost all of my power to do it, but a concentrated blast could rip through almost anything.
Somehow I missed the creature in front of me almost completely. When I told this story to Britta, I was going to have to leave this part out. The bolt of power sheared through the side of the freezer door, taking part of the beast’s back leg with it. The bad news was I had also freed it from its confinement. The huge monster stood on its back legs and let out another of the horrible gurgle growls before crashing back to all fours and charging straight at me.
This was the moment they had been telling us about in training at the academy. The moment when it came down to you versus whatever you were fighting, with death on the line. This was your chance to react and maybe one day be the quality fighter the Ascendancy needed, or die. I didn’t want to die. I cast another bolt of power—this time my aim was true. The creature lunged at me. My bolt slammed into its head, blowing it apart. The momentum had sent the now lifeless body crashing into me, its claws tearing a gash down my chest. I rolled away and hit it with every ounce of power I had. The body burst into a bright white light, and then there was nothing but ash.
The inspector was behind me, and it seemed as if he had things well in hand. His opponent circled him, trying to keep him off center, but must have forgotten about me. I cast a spell out that sent him crashing to his knees. The inspector leaped forward to finish him but was thrown back once again. He gave me a look, and I thought I knew what he wanted. The man in front of us slowly rose to his feet. I could feel him gathering his magic for one final burst. I cast my magic out and shattered what he had been gathering, leaving him defenseless. In a move I hadn’t expected, the inspector pulled out a gun and fired at the man three times. The man’s body shook with each impact, and he fell forward.
I watched the smoke flow from the barrel of the inspector’s gun. He gave me a wink and blew on the tip as if he was in an old Western movie. “I knew that we had firearms training, but I’ve never seen one of the gifted use a gun before.”
“Well, they don’t do a lot of good against other gifted; our personal shields will deflect most bullets. But when you shattered his magic, I thought why not end it with something he wouldn’t be expecting.”
“What does it matter? Dead is dead. Wouldn’t it be better just to make sure he died instead of trying to look amazing while doing it?”
“Dead? Oh, he isn’t dead, just in a lot of pain.”
I looked back over at the man on the ground, the puddle of blood quickly pooling around him. “Inspector, are you sure?”
“Yeah, it takes a lot more than a few bullet holes to bring one of us down. Our natural healing kicks in, so as long as he was to receive proper medical care before being killed outright, he will be ok.”
“I’m not sure I want him to be ok. Did you see that thing he was controlling?”
“You mean the huge undead werewolf? It was kind of hard to miss.”
“So why risk keeping him alive?”
“Well, we need answers, and unfortunately I don’t know how to get them out of dead bodies.”
“Do some people know how to do that?”
“I think that is a good question for you to ask Adam next time you see him.”
I’d been around enough people in power now to know when I wasn’t going to
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