Chapter 9: Battle

I knew he didn't stand a chance against me, but my demon half had the wheel and I was far past any kind of give a crap to stop myself. My shields were already in place by the time he stepped away from Coradine, the center near the bonfire cleared in a hasty exodus of witch kids who scrambled with nervous tension back out of the ring. No, nothing official or anything, just a wall of power they raised on the outside of the circle to ensure the 'rents and my great grandmother didn't realize what we were up to.

At least they could get that much right. But I gave them a boost anyway, just in case.

Because like hell I was going to go down for this.

He felt like an Enforcer I realized when he pushed out his own feeble shields in response, tall body bending slightly forward when he shifted his weight into his chest, knees bending a bit as if he planned to tackle me physically. Like he'd even get close before my wall of protection sent him flying back into the kids watching this foolish show. So he was a trainee, was he? I should have turned him in to Karyn Barrett, the North American Council Leader for being a dick. But instead I flicked my fingers in his direction, calling up the blue fire of his order and snorting as he struggled to get control back.

"Nice flames," I said of the sapphire fire bouncing at his feet. "Need a match?" I pushed against them, sending them climbing up his legs as he choked out a coughing protest in a half- yell, half-girly scream that made me grin.

"Cheating!" As if there were rules to this, but Coradine was determined to make my life miserable.

I backed off, hands held up in a show of compliance as I released his power back to him. "If he can't stand the heat this early in the game..." I let that hang between us while his wide jaw jumped and his handsome face set in the kind of fury that left him wide open to the entire delicious beat down I was going to hand him.

While it would have been nice for once to maybe have a cute guy like me, kicking his arrogant ass back to his own territory would make me feel better. At least for a little while.

"Harvard, huh?" I prodded him while he shored up his defenses, like it did him any good. I really had to stop accepting these challenges. There just wasn't anything in it for me anymore. Even an Enforcer trainee didn't stand a chance against me and that made me sad in a lot of ways. And frustrated to no end. "Second year?"

He flinched, shrugged. "Are you going to fight or not?" He sounded like he wasn't so sure but had painted himself into a pentagram and didn't know how to get out.

"You could just walk away." I offered that with total honesty and not a hint of judgment.

Maybe it would be better if he did. Took the peace offering I held out in compassion and got out of Dodge. And I think he might have, if it weren't for Coradine.

"You said you could take her," she hissed at him. "Big, strong Enforcer trainee. You're a loser, Jagger."

How hateful. And he should have turned on her, should have triggered that wash of rage I felt in that bitch's direction. Why then, instead, did he focus it so clearly on me? Just before he hit me with everything he had.

Sigh.

So, I know what you're thinking. I had every chance to walk away from this myself, to just shrug it off and not let it get to me, the fact every witch I'd ever met around my age-with the exception of my freakishly kind and empathetic brother-seemed to hate my guts because I was a Hayle. But when he struck at me, his face contorted like he'd love to see me bleeding and

crushed on the ground at his feet, well. The demon in me just couldn't have that kind of animosity go rewarded.

He was strong, I'd give him that, and probably hit middle of the road in his training. He'd never be a leader, but he'd make a solid Enforcer. That was if he could get over being a jerk for five minutes. And if I let him live.

Okay, a bit harsh, but I seriously had it up to my very Hayle blue eyes with the nasty pettiness of my extremely frustrating life and he just happened to put his handsome face in my way at the wrong moment.

I didn't break his nose. Nor did I crush his heart or burst his spleen or even give him a concussion. I swear. I just shook him. A little. Enough to make his teeth rattle and his nose bleed. Maybe an ear, too, though the ruptured drum was honestly not my intention. He must have had a weakness there to begin with.

It should have been over then. He should have just conceded, the idiot. Let me win and bow out like a pro and just let it be. But instead, with his head shaking to clear it, he struck again.

This time with a knife of blue fire that rose up behind me and punctured the edges of my shield with a slice of pain so vivid I gasped.

And everything shuddered. My entire body reacted, all the magic within me triggered in self- defense, far beyond what I'd ever felt before. I wasn't ready for such a sneak attack. Wasn't prepared for the kneejerk reaction, the instinctual and deeply buried trigger in my demon blood. In the Sidhe and the vampire inside me. All of them woke in a roar of denial and fury that flashed through me so fast and with such power I felt the magic tear through the shields. Did nothing to stop it as it surged around the fight in a blaze even as it thundered toward him like a freight train.

I couldn't stop it, didn't have the time or the strength against the vast magic I bore. And shuddered as it took him full in the chest and carried him backward into the crowd of kids.

The screaming made it through the humming silence that the exodus of magic left behind inside my aching head while I staggered forward to make sure I hadn't killed him. The rest of the gathering was already running, the cowards, disappearing like smoke into the trees, because they knew, like I knew in the periphery of logic that tried to tap me on the shoulder, there was no way the backlash hadn't reached my great-grandmother.

Coradine abandoned her so called friend. Some friend. I let her go, let them all go, crouching over Jagger and pushing energy into him, heart thudding in terror I'd done him permanent harm. Blue flames died around him, but he was alive, at least. He'd collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling back into his head, the whites visibly flooding with blood. For a long moment I gaped at his fallen body, positive I'd just totally screwed any chance I ever had at my family trusting me, wondering what the hell just happened.

And then the air over my head burst open as the veil parted and I knew no matter what came to pass from here on in, I had just proven to the ones who judged me I was the failure they all thought I'd become.

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