Love Croakies by Sam Cheever (the kiss of deception read online .txt) 📕

With only the sound of the fire in the enormous fireplace crackling and spitting as I moved slowly toward the perfectly still princess.

We spread out around her, approaching from all angles. The sound of flipping pages followed us from the kitchen.

Desiree lay with her hands crossed over her chest, her beautiful face serene and the thick arcs of her eyelashes resting on her flawless cheeks.

“She looks like Sleeping Beauty,” Eddie said, a shadow in his eyes.

I wondered if he was thinking of his own imprisonment in that castle. He’d been lying on a raised platform in much the same way when we’d found him there. His prison walls had crackled with magical fire rather than the old fashioned wood kind that bathed Desiree in a golden glow. But the parallels were creepy.

He shuddered slightly, confirming my suspicions. “Do you want to wait in the kitchen?” I asked him softly.

He shook his head. “I’m okay. It’s just weird being back here.”

That was an understatement of massive proportions.

A phone rang into the silence and we all jumped. I looked around the big room. “Do you see a phone?”

Everyone glanced around as the phone continued to ring.

Eddie frowned. “It’s coming from you?”

I blinked and then felt my pocket, embarrassed color heating my cheeks. “Oh. Ha.” I tugged my phone out of my jeans and answered it. “Lea? Is he okay?”

There was a loud crackling noise and, somewhere in the background, something crashed. Panic crawled over me with sharp, feline claws. “Lea? What’s going on?”

“Naida!” Her voice was harsh and panicked. “They’re here. Hurry!” The call disconnected and I looked at Archie. “Croakies is being attacked.”

Archie frowned. “Did she say by whom?”

I shook my head. “No. It sounded chaotic there. But I’m betting it’s the cherubs.”

“Cherubs?” Narina asked, frowning. “Why…?”

“Because I sent them,” the demon behind me said.

My gaze whipped around to Desiree. She was standing in front of the crackling fire, her expression petulant. “You’ve been so tedious. I was really hoping we could do this without violence.” She sighed, so disgusted with us.

“Do what?” I asked, backing away.

Desiree’s false smile slid away. “I want that serum.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“We thought you had it,” Archie said. “We came to get it from you.”

Desiree stamped her foot. “Don’t be tiresome. I want my serum!” She threw her hands into the air and something burst from them. Lots of somethings, actually. And the floating things slashed at my skin as they glided past.

“Ouch!” I smacked at the heart-shaped magic saturating the air, earning a new set of bloody wounds for my trouble. In desperation, I flung my energy at the thickening mist of heart-shaped blades, managing to barely knock the nearest ones away.

Around me, people were yelping and screeching in pain. Only Archie seemed adequately covered to keep most of the damage at bay. He’d pulled his sleeves down over his hands and pulled the collar up around his face. The bell-shaped sleeves of his robe were quivering at the ends as if his fingers were moving inside.

I hoped he was trying to open a void.

A stiff wind slashed through the room, blowing some of the little blades away from us. They hit the wall with a thwuck, and many of them stuck there.

All around us, things began to lift off tables and other surfaces, dancing on the air in a wide vortex of erratic movement. A pair of candlesticks jerked skyward and slashed toward my head. I dove just in time to keep from getting clipped and they sailed past me, crashing through a window across the room. The mantel clock rose up and shot toward Desiree. She flipped her fingers, and it transformed into rose petals as it hit her skin.

The sweet scent of roses filled the room.

A blanket flew into the air, dancing with the throw pillows from the same couch. The blanket collided with a small table, whose contents swirled around it as it pranced across the room.

The fireplace poker spun away from the hearth and nearly impaled Osvald. He dove beneath a dainty chair. The small chair lifted away from him and smacked into the fireplace, falling in pieces into the flames.

A cloud of hearts flashed toward a giant mirror that suddenly flew to cover Eddie. The blades sank into the mirror’s wooden frame and stuck there.

But there were too many of them to avoid completely. The razor-like hearts slashed and ripped, scraped, and sliced everything they encountered.

I huddled behind a couch and eyed the action, my eyes going crossed from the activity. It was magic mania.

Narina’s wind magic was rocking the room. Lashing the window curtains and blowing some of the heavier furnishings toward the demon princess in front of the fire.

Eddie stood in the center of his own type of whirlwind. Arms up and eyes closed. Chaos surrounded him.

Desiree stood fearlessly in the same spot, never dodging, never moving, and yet somehow never taking a hit.

Archie had dropped to a crouch, but his fingers still worked inside his robe.

Behind Desiree, the air thickened and roiled. His void slowly opening.

Pain slashed along my arm. I looked down, horror turning my blood to ice. All along the scratches caused by Desiree’s heart-shaped weapons, something sprouted from my skin. Something green and leafy with…

All the color fled my face.

“Roses!” I yelled. “The cuts sprout roses.” A thorn ripped through my skin and pain sliced through me in a jagged tear. I screamed as warm blood gushed from the wound.

No one seemed to hear me because the wind drowned out my voice. Eddie was lost in his own little world. Behind me, poor Osvald was shrieking in pain.

Green energy flashed through the room.

Sprite energy.

I lifted my head to look for Sebille. A bladed heart slashed across my cheek, barely missing my eye. I yelped and dropped back down but spotted Sebille as she fired another blast of magic toward Desiree.

A slash appeared in the air behind the demon. A narrow black opening split the air. Desiree didn’t seem to notice. “Give me the