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

“It has been inevitable since the days of our birth.”

Lyssa popped up. Aisha was ready for her. A fireball ripped from her palm. A round from Lyssa went wide and struck the ground. The enchanted round exploded, staggering Aisha, but her fireball did its part by hitting Lyssa’s side.

The blast knocked Lyssa to the floor and left a blackened hole in her shirt and her mesh vest red-hot. She grabbed the forklift and pulled herself off the ground, ignoring the pain in her side. She was glad she’d taken the time to mostly heal before heading to Midland.

Aisha shook her head and raised her hands. Lyssa had already steadied her gun on the back of the forklift. Four lightning-fast trigger pulls placed explosive rounds in a square around the fire Sorceress.

The explosions knocked Aisha about like a petal in a hurricane. She grunted, her mouth twisting in pain before she fell to one knee. With a shout of defiance, she shot off the ground, flames trailing from her feet and palms.

“That’s annoying,” Lyssa shouted.

Her follow-up shots missed. They struck high on a wall, raining concrete on the hard floor.

Lyssa gritted her teeth. She’d known Aisha for years, and the flame Sorceress got better each time they fought. Before, it had always stopped at overenthusiastic sparring. Aisha might leave Lyssa no choice but to use her ultimate bullet, the showstopper.

Fire rained from above. Explosions burst around Lyssa as she jerked, sprinted, and danced to avoid the attacks. Cement dust puffed up in clouds. Dark smoke drifted upward. She kept waiting for an alarm or a sprinkler.

Lyssa replied with another four shots, making sure to count them. Her attacks missed the flying Sorceress and blew pieces out of the roof. Falling debris forced Aisha to dive toward the floor. Aisha’s fire shields could burn away all threats, but only so many and only so quickly. It was time to remind Aisha that bullets weren’t the only trick in Lyssa’s arsenal.

She pointed a finger on her free hand and concentrated. A small inky cloud grew on the tip and shot toward Aisha. The spell struck the floor and expanded for several yards, swallowing both the Sorceress and one of her nearby lantern spells in a juddering mass of darkness.

Lyssa allowed herself a triumphant grin. She’d hadn’t won, but she was forcing Aisha to meet her tempo.

Repeats of the same spell cloaked that portion of the warehouse floor in impenetrable darkness but tired Lyssa. The blinded Sorceress’ eyes widened in concern as she jerked her head back and forth. Flaming jets blasted from her hands and feet and launched her into the air.

Lyssa could see through the spell, thanks to her regalia. She followed Aisha’s flight arc with her gun and aimed for her landing spot, firing another exploding round.

Aisha landed in a crouch, but Lyssa’s explosion sent her careening through the air. She landed hard on her back, her head cracking against the concrete. She cried out in pain.

Lyssa boxed Aisha in again by shooting all around her. The combined blasts propelled Aisha into the air. She crashed to the floor again, bloodied, burned, and her regalia filled with tears and holes. The attacks had cleared out most of the darkness.

After loading her last magazine of explosive bullets, Lyssa pointed her gun at Aisha. The other Sorceress stood, swaying, and wiped blood off her split lip. She extended her arm, and a blazing sword of bright white flame appeared.

“I’ll die before I surrender to a degenerate like you, Hecate.” Aisha spat blood and gestured for Lyssa to attack. “You disgrace our kind by selling shards to criminal scum. You’re the opposite of what a Torch should stand for, friend. I’ll exchange my life for yours, so at least this travesty ends with you.”

“Wait.” Lyssa kept her gun pointed at Aisha even as her mind swirled in confusion. “I’m not the one helping some gangster shipping service spew out shards to the entire Southwest. That’s you.”

The anger on Aisha’s face remained, but she didn’t release her spells. “You’re claiming you don’t work for the scum?”

“No!” Lyssa snorted. “Of course not. I came here on a tip from an informant to find the smugglers. Next thing I know, you show up and try and kill me.”

“Why should I believe you?” Some of the arrogance had drained from Aisha’s voice.

Lyssa grimaced. “Because it’s the damned truth, you crazy zealot. Now this is all making sense. I couldn’t figure out how you of all people would end up working for these bastards. I might have issues with you and your family, but I couldn’t buy that you’d smuggle shards with the help of Shadows.”

“Why did you attack me then?” Aisha asked.

“Because you were tossing fireballs at me,” Lyssa shouted. She groaned. “It’s called self-defense.”

Aisha wrinkled her nose. The light of her flaming sword gave her a face a sinister cast. “A likely story.”

“Think about it. Do you think I’d work for criminals? Or can you accept, for at least a few minutes, that you let your hatred run wild, and you made a bad call?”

“Don’t trust her,” Jofi said. “That was lethal intent.”

“I’m not happy about what went down,” Lyssa whispered, “but I’m not going to kill a Torch if she made an honest mistake. Well, a mistake, anyway.”

Aisha was an annoying pest and had been from their first meeting ten years ago. The then-twelve-year-old Aisha had kicked the twenty-year-old Lyssa in the shin and called her a thieving cat. At the time, Lyssa had been as impressed as she was annoyed.

That shin-kicking little girl had grown into a skilled young woman and a powerful Torch. When she wasn’t attempting to murder Lyssa, she was good at her job. They might never be friends, but they could at least be colleagues.

Lyssa took a deep breath. Time to gamble with her life. She lowered her gun but kept her attention focused on Aisha, ready to dodge.

Aisha watched Lyssa with suspicion before chuckling and waving her arm.