Page 9 of Wicked Enemy

I opened my mouth to say… something. But I never found out what, because right then, Frank, Jamila, and Ulric rounded the corner behind me.

“I’m sorry, Eve,” Frank was saying. “I didn’t mean to—”

He abruptly stopped speaking as he no doubt noticed Levi, but I didn’t know for sure because my eyes remained locked on the King of Metal.

Levi’s gaze snapped to the people behind me. Then his eyes hardened and darkness descended on his features. It was so intense that I think I might have gasped.

And that’s when I realized what this must have looked like from his perspective. An ambush.Anotherambush.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I blurted out without thinking.

But thankfully, my voice was drowned out by Captain Smith yelling, “Sound the alarm! Levi Arden has been spotted!”

“You fucking traitor!” Levi snapped at me with enough force to make me stagger a step back. Hurling a sheet of metal straight towards us, he growled, “I can’t believe that I let you into my Court. That I trusted you. Before this is over, I will kill you, you worthless piece of shit.”

Metal shot towards us, and my colleagues threw up wind and water walls to block it. But all I could do was to stand there, staring at the dark mage across the street. Each of his words landed like a physical blow.

Booms echoed across the city.

“After him!” someone screamed. Frank, I think.

Yanked out of my stupor, I realized that Levi had bolted while the others were busy blocking his attack. Frank and Jamila, followed by the rest of my colleagues who had now poured out of the restaurant, took off after him. But I couldn’t make my feet move. It felt as if I had been nailed to the street.

In my chest, my confused heart was cracking and bleeding.

Hands appeared on my shoulders.

I gasped as Captain Smith spun me around to face him. His kind brown eyes locked on mine with such compassion that I wanted to burst into tears. “It’s alright, Eve.”

“I…”

“I’ll get the rest of our department. Send up a signal when you have him cornered and I’ll race there with everyone else.” He gave my arms a squeeze. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to be afraid of him for much longer, kiddo. We’ll take him down tonight.”

Before I could figure out how to respond, Ulric released me and sprinted back towards our headquarters to get back-up.

For a few seconds, all I could do was stare at the empty street where Levi had been standing less than a minute ago.

Levi was here.

And now my colleagues, my woefully outmatched colleagues, were chasing after him.

I only hesitated a second before darting after them as well.

Chapter5

Shouts rose behind me as my metal wall shot towards my pursuers. It was followed by a loud bang as they blocked it with wind and water magic. While skidding around the next corner, I cast a quick glance over my shoulder.

I could probably have killed them all in a couple of minutes if I had stood and fought. But the problem was that I didn’t know how far out back-up was. I was on the north side now. The entire constable force was here. And I was alone. I couldn’t let them corner me. Because if they managed to surround me on this side of the river, I would be in some serious trouble.

A young man yelped and leaped out of the way as I barreled down the next street. Boots thudded on the stones behind me, informing me that the constables were on my heels. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if Eve was one of them.

The memory of what she had looked like in that alley back there sent a stab of pain through my heart. Blocking out any thoughts of Eve, I instead concentrated fully on plotting an exit strategy.

I couldn’t head back to the same spot where I left Ferry. Not with the white boots this close behind. Since all of them were normal mages, they could all manipulate water. So crossing the river would be impossible if they could see me do it. What I needed to do was to make them lose sight of me. But how?

White stone buildings flashed past on both sides as I hurtled across the city.

There was no way I would be able to outrun them. But if I stopped and attacked them, I would risk their reinforcements surrounding me before I could finish them off. If I—