Southwest Nights (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 1) by Kal Aaron (large ebook reader txt) 📕

His thugs all laughed. They didn’t look as tense as any of the other men she’d fought. Alvarez’s robe radiated strong sorcery. Whatever it did, the outfit was a lot more powerful than the crossbows.

“Let’s be real.” Alvarez’s smile vanished. “If your Society was clean, I wouldn’t have all these toys, now would I? Some bruja comes in here and thinks she’s better than me because she wears a mask?” He gestured at one of the dead men. “I wasn’t going to make you pay, but you made this easy. This robe has a cost, you know? The cost is life, and my boys’ death has made me strong. Even in death, they’re serving me and the cartel. That’s loyalty.”

Lyssa pointed the guns at him. “I didn’t kill most of your people.”

“What, you ask for mercy now?” Alvarez sneered. “Damn. You’re nothing more than a weak chick in the end?”

“Mercy?” Lyssa scoffed. “Nope. I’m thinking if I kill you, there are still plenty of people for the cops and FBI to interrogate.” She backed up slowly, keeping her guns pointed at Alvarez. “And I’d like to not damage the robe if possible. It’ll help a friend of mine score some points when it’s turned in.”

“Kill this crazy bitch,” Alvarez shouted.

Lyssa ran toward the rec room and out of the line of fire. That didn’t save her when the thugs held down their triggers and released a hail of bullets into the living room. Bullets ripped through the front window, shattering them. The projectiles riddled the wall and door with holes.

Bullets struck up and down Lyssa’s body, adding more damage to her regalia. Fiery pain shot through her thigh, and the layered defenses, including the enchanted mesh on her chest, could only do so much to dull the hits. She wore the Night Goddess, not the Stone Giant.

Lyssa backflipped off the wall, avoiding some of the shots as she returned fire. She ignored Alvarez, sweeping her arms back and forth and rapidly pulling her triggers. Their boss might have a shard, but it wasn’t going to save his men from the high-velocity rounds of her enchanted pistols ripping through them.

She ran toward an overturned table and slid behind it, firing the entire time. More men dropped to the ground with new holes in their heads. The idiots needed to understand she could survive being shot many times and keep fighting. They couldn’t.

Bravery was overrated. Winning wasn’t.

The sad part was she’d not even used any enchanted ammo yet. Each of her rounds tearing through the men was a normal bullet, though with Jofi residing in the pistols, the muzzle velocity was increased to the point where it was like getting shot with a high-powered rifle.

Lyssa fired through the table, emptying her magazines before ejecting them and reloading. No one else was shooting back.

Her heart pounding and sharp pain suffusing her leg, she rolled from the table to the couch, readied both guns, and jumped up. Alvarez was the only man still standing, though his robe now shone with a dull red light and his eyes glowed solid red.

Alvarez whistled. “You are one impressive woman, Hecate. I wonder what you look like under that mask. I’m thinking you’re a badass abuela with a big scar across your face.”

Lyssa kept silent. Everyone seemed to think she was old under the mask, but that didn’t matter. The more ancient they believed she was, the better she could intimidate them. Sorceresses and Sorcerers could make use of the centuries of folklore associating age with power.

“Your men are all dead or out cold,” Lyssa rumbled. “I’m still standing. Surrender, Alvarez, or die. Don’t be an idiot.”

“You are still standing.” Alvarez looked her up and down. “You’re shot up but barely bleeding. Your kind is special. You see all that on TV, and it makes you wonder, you know? They say all these special people are walking around, but most normal people won’t ever meet one.” He ran a hand over the robe. “This would have been enough to make me believe in your power, but now I’ve seen it. When I kill you, I’m going to become a legend.”

“Enough of this crap.” Lyssa fired both guns at Alvarez.

He jerked back before standing up straight, then poked his fingers through the new holes in his robe before kicking a crushed bullet out of the way. “I’ve got one of your costumes now.”

Lyssa scoffed. “That’s not regalia, it’s just a shard. And you’re not a Sorcerer. You have no chance against me.”

He spread his arms out. “You just killed a bunch of guys and gave me power.”

Alvarez charged at her. Lyssa kept firing, but he continued toward her. He swung a fist, and she dodged the blow with a quick jump. His momentum carried his hand into and through a nearby wall with a hardwood veneer.

“Damn.” Alvarez yanked his fist out of the wall and shook off the dust. “It doesn’t even hurt.”

“I recommend using more powerful ammunition,” Jofi said.

Lyssa sighed and tossed one of the guns to the ground before ejecting the magazine of the remaining weapon. “Agreed.”

Confusion swallowed cockiness on Alvarez’s face. He frowned at the fallen gun. “Why not throw both away if you’re giving up? You can’t shoot me with an empty gun. If you’re trying to trick me, it doesn’t matter. I’ve got the robe, and you gave me the power. I’m in charge here.”

Lyssa pulled an orange-tape-marked magazine out of a pocket and shoved it into her gun. Alvarez frowned.

“Who said anything about surrendering?” she asked. “I let myself get all shot up because of what the cops and FBI wanted, but I’m not going to sit here and let some idiot drug dealer with delusions of grandeur punch me through walls. You’re not the only one with a reputation to maintain.”

“Don’t you get it?” Alvarez snarled. “You’re nothing, bruja. I have your power now. You can’t hurt me.”

“You should be honored.” Lyssa sucked in a breath. “This is expensive.