Page 20 of Mending Mayhem
Mayhem’s magic bled into my veins, and if I’d been anyone else, I would have done exactly that. But I was me. His soulmate. The only being in existence who countered his magic, and, much to my chagrin, the desire to roast Adrian’s chestnuts on an open fire dissolved, taking my anger with it.
“As much as I hate to admit it, we’re on the same side.” I hurled my flames at the fae, but his exoskeleton shielded him, as usual. “And those suckers are fireproof.”
“Which must mean you haven’t killed any either,” Adrian said. “At least I took out the demon.”
“Don’t let him speak to you that way. Tear off his head and piss down his throat.”
“We’re on the same side,” I said again. “If we work together, we can share information. I’m sure you know things about the fae that we don’t, and vice versa.”
Mayhem growled in my head. “It’s me. My magic is seeping out of my psyche and making you docile. This isn’t you, Ember.”
Holy crap. He was right. I mean, I wouldn’t urinate on a foe—no matter how big his ego—but never would I ever let a man talk to me like I was a dainty, useless little girl. Flowers and tea, my ass.
Mayhem pulled back, the oddly calming energy he’d forced into me dissipating, and I gasped.
“Light witches couldn’t possibly know more about this than we do,” Adrian said.
Olga raised her hand. “Don’t demons disappear when they die?”
“I’m no demon.” Bugman charged her, and she screamed, ducking behind her High Priest. Chaos blocked the fae’s path, landing a punch to the side of his face and breaking off a pincer. He squealed and hissed, stumbling back to where the alastor lay motionless after Adrian’s tornado.
I highly doubted a little wind knocked a demon unconscious. Most likely, Chaos was keeping it in check, but I’d let Adrian have this one. If he knew we were in cahoots with the Princes of Hell, we’d have to fight off BSM too.
And we didn’t have time for more side quests.
Seriously. No. More.
Ash joined hands with Miles and Shade and hit the fae with a killer freezing spell. Well, not actually killer, but the bugaboo’s body seized, the blood from its mouth stopping mid-drip as it toppled to the ground.
“Whoa,” Gray said. “How…?”
Adrian scoffed and crossed his arms. “It won’t hold.”
I could feel Mayhem’s desire to rip his heart out growing in my mind, so I clenched my teeth and grabbed a dagger from my scabbard. “Let me do this,” I whispered as I marched toward it. “You’re killing my instinct to fight.”
“Sorry.” He reeled it in again, and my own anger surged through my veins.
I hurled the dagger at the frozen fae, the blade penetrating the soft spot below his ear hole.
“Gray and I will seal the rift,” Olga shouted.
I whirled around, my expression livid. “Don’t.”
“Okay.” She raised her hands, dropping a potion bottle and shattering it on the pavement.
“We don’t take orders from light witches,” Adrian said. “Seal it.”
“That was my last spell. I’ll have to mix another one.” Olga dropped to her knees and rummaged through her bag.
I mouthed the words let the alastor go to Chaos, and he nodded, releasing his hold on the demon. The beast charged toward me.
7
MAYHEM
“His heart is lower than a human’s, on the right side of his stomach.”
“Roger that.” Ember dropped and spun, kicking her right leg out and knocking the alastor off his feet. He hit the pavement face-first and howled, rolling to his back and clutching his bloody snout.