Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

was surprised to see nothing was broken. If I lived, I’d be nothing but a blob of black and blue for weeks, but I was ok; and more important, ready to fight.

Chloe jumped through the busted window and landed as nimbly as a cat. People were screaming now. They could take their pick of the Fae soaked in blood, or the naked guy who just fell out the window. It didn’t really matter. There was a lot going on at the moment.

“Still think I was a bad fuck,” she advanced on me, sparks shooting from where her sword dragged against the concrete.

“Dani gave much better head than you,” I coughed, delirious with pain as blood splattered the concrete in front of me.

She paused standing over me. “I never sucked your dick,” she spat in my face. “Like I’d degrade myself by . . .”

I interrupted her by rolling over and punching her in the leg. She didn’t even try to dodge it. To her, it was the last attempt of the desperate man she was about to kill. Unfortunately, for the overconfident nymph, Creepy Kev struck again.

All the power from the last charm bracelet was directed into the ring, and therefore my fist. The big, ugly, gold band full of enchanted stones and diamonds looked like something Liberace would wear. I’d been called all kinds of names for wearing it over the past few days, but every putdown was worth it as it smashed into Chloe’s knee and shattered it.

She screamed but didn’t go down. She hopped a few steps to the side and looked at me with murder written all over her face. I took a swipe at her with my cold-iron blade, using the last of my strength, but I missed by a mile. I coughed out more blood and rolled onto my back.

“Is it weird it’s a perfect day,” I looked up at the sunny, cloudless sky.

I heard Chloe’s sword scraping against the concrete as she came to stand over me again. She kicked my sword away from me, so I couldn’t threaten her. “Fucking mortal,” she spat in my face for the second time. “I can’t wait to get the fuck out of this backwater shithole.”

I could tell she wasn’t limping as bad, her supernatural healing already taking care of the only blow I’d been able to inflict on her.

“Well . . . shit,” my vision was already starting to narrow as my adrenaline wore off, and the knowledge I was going to die settled over me. This was how it ended; here, with my dick hanging out, killed by a Fae bitch who I failed to fuck to completion in a pizza joint bathroom. There were worse ways to go, but not many.

She didn’t even ask me if I had any last words. She just raised her sword for the killing blow. Pure joy radiated from her face, and I felt a sliver of satisfaction that I’d proven so hard to kill.

“Not bad for a human.” Those were my last thoughts.

The smirk vanished as a flaming whip wrapped around her throat, and a matching sword burst through her chest. Her glamour sword still plunged toward my heart, but disintegrated into flecks of light as she lost her concentration. Her skin started to bubble and char as the flames consumed her flesh. I was so out of it; I couldn’t even hear her scream.

What I did know was this was my last chance. There was no way in hell the universe was going to give me another. I still had my cold-iron dagger. My fingers felt numb, but I was able to get them around the hilt. With a jerk, I pulled it out of its scabbard, and with my last vestiges of energy, I rolled over and stabbed her in the foot. It was about the weakest blow I could deliver, but the cold-iron parted flesh that would stop 7.62mm rounds with ease.

Now I heard her scream. It was a bloodcurdling shriek of pain and despair. She jerked her leg free of my grip, but the blade stayed imbedded. She kicked her leg like crazy, still fighting the whip choking her and the sword sticking out of her chest, but none of those held her attention like my little knife.

I wasn’t sure if I was hallucinating, but I swore black veins started to spread up her leg. Soon everything below her shorts was covered in them. It continued to spread under her clothes. It crawled up her neck and onto her face. Her scream abruptly cut off, and her whole body seized. The flaming sword and whip vanished, revealing charred skin covered in the same black veins.

Chloe’s body gave several more spasms, and then gravity took her. She toppled backwards, and when she hit the ground, her body shattered into hundreds of pieces. I turned my head and saw what remained of the woman who tried to kill me . . . and the woman who’d saved my life. Lilith stood beyond Chloe’s remains, her eyes darting between the dead Fae and me.

I might have been imagining things, but she looked afraid. “What have you done?” she asked.

I didn’t get a chance to answer. I passed the fuck out. I’d had a long day, and it wasn’t even seven-thirty.

Chapter 17

“Breach . . . breach . . . breach . . .” the county’s SWAT commander yelled over the communications net they’d set up for the operation.

Vernon did exactly as he’d been trained. He pinched his eyes shut as hard as he could, and prayed the tactical helmet’s sound dampeners were up to snuff. Shifters, due to their enhanced senses, were more vulnerable to flash-bangs – and explosions in general – than humans. They recovered a lot faster, but for a second or two, it was completely debilitating.

Vernon was stacked