The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (important books to read .txt) 📕

                “Yeah, but what does your Uncle say about teams?” I asked, playfully wagging my finger.

                “That a team is only as strong as its weakest member." she replied, grinning.

                “Yeah.” I said, pointing at her. “So if we’re awesome, it’s because of you!”

                “Yeah, well,” Tiffany said as we started the walk back to the main house, “I wish you guys could help me with my current project.”

                “What are you working on?” Raina asked.

                “A combat review of all of the assaults thus far.” Tiffany replied. “Something about them strikes me as odd, only I can’t put my finger on it.”

                “Isn’t wading through data one of Jack’s superpowers?” I said. “You could get him to help.”

                “Oh, he is.” Tiffany said. “His algorithms have made organizing the data a breeze. Interpreting it, on the other hand, is more of a human skill.”

                Raina grinned. “Well, I wish you… “

                She was cut off by an inhuman wail. I looked around, instantly at alert.

                “What the fuck is that?!? Tiffany yelled over the noise.

                “A proximity alarm set up by Gaia.” Raina said, hands glowing and ready. “We’ve got uninvited company.”

                “Right.” replied Tiffany, and she tapped a point on her chest. Armor cloth again covered her body, only this time it was purple.

                Gaia’s other gift I thought, dragon skin armor.

                Katsu and Gaia were there in an instant, Gaia running across the yard in between the house and our position while Katsu floated into place.

                “Jack’s monitoring the cameras.” Katsu said. “Vincent and Angelique are heading for the perimeter of the property.”

                “Before I left, I saw three separate incursions.” Gaia added. “They’re coming from three directions.”

                The question is WHAT’S coming I thought.

                My question was soon answered. Ahead of me, I saw a figure step out of the woods.

                And another. And another.

                Oh boy.

                They looked like people from the waist up. Mutilated, modified people, but I could tell that they had started out as human. From the waist down, however, they walked on metal legs. Their arms had been modified as well, their hands replaced with all manner of knives and blades.

                There were a dozen coming from in front of me, and more coming out of the woods on either side.

                “Let’s rock and roll!” Raina yelled, and the battle began.

                I blasted one at random with a fireball, and it fell over in flames. Katsu swooped down and snatched one nearby, carrying it high into the air only to let it fall to earth in a bloody mess again. Raina sent green bolts of energy flying at a few more, and they fell to pieces as well.

                “They’re not that resilient!” I called out to Tiffany.

                “Good to know!” she called back, pulling her sidearm and firing off a few shots.

                Gaia sent large rocks sailing towards the advancing nightmares, knocking them to pieces. “They’re like zombies… “ she said as she walked by me. “Their danger looks to be in their numbers!”

                I couldn’t disagree with her. They were going down easily, yes, but there seemed to be two to replace every one that fell. I started stepping up my fire-bolts, and then was distracted by a roar from behind me.

                I glanced back and saw Trevor on a motorcycle, his sister Evelyn on the back, each of them with a sword held high. Evelyn jumped off and started slashing while Trevor drove down the line, slashing out metal legs as he went.

                “Take that, you cyberman-bastards!” He called out as he attacked.

                “Dammit!” I shouted.

                “What’s wrong?” Tiffany asked, reloading.

                “I should have made that Doctor Who reference!” I said, grinning. “I’m slacking as a Whovian!”

                “Bad wolf!” she joked, returning to firing. “Bad, bad wolf!”

                I took out another dozen or so mechanized nightmares before Vincent came crashing out of the trees.

                “How’s it going?” he asked, scanning around us.

                “Holding our own here.” I replied, sending out another fire-bolt.

                “Jack just told me over the radio that there appear to be human controllers directing their movements.” He continued. “We need them alive.”

                “Roger.” I said as he dove back into the fight, picking up one of the creatures and swinging it like a club as he crashed back into the treeline.

                I passed on Jack’s message as we went. I noticed that the tide of creatures was mellowing out, and we rushed into the forest to clean things up.

                I soon came upon my quarry… a camouflaged man in a ski-mask and tactical gear, holding a small box with dials, switches, and an antenna on it. I stepped confidently into the space behind him.

                “Hands up.” I said firmly, bone-shards at the ready to wound if need be.

                It never occurred to me that he might have someone else nearby. I heard a bang!, and pain exploded in my shoulder. The world grew fuzzy around me as I fell.

                I heard a scream, saw the brightest flash of green light I'd ever seen, and then everything went dark.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                I woke up sometime later in my bed, my shoulder sore and bandaged but otherwise okay. I looked to the side to see Tiffany sitting there, smiling.

                “Good morning sleepy head.” she said.

                “What happened?” I asked, sitting up.

                “You were shot.” she answered simply. “The guy you cornered had a buddy. He was behind you.” She shrugged. “It happens.”

                “Damn.” I flexed my shoulder underneath the bandage on it. “This doesn’t feel too bad, honestly.”

                “Thank Gaia for that.” Tiffany said, reaching for a glass of water on the nightstand. “I’ve heard tales about Fae healing, but to see it in person is impressive. You should be able to take that off, actually.”

                I peeled the bandage away, and my skin was pink where the bullet had exited. It didn’t look like there was going to be a scar.

                “Impressive.” I said, smiling.

                “Yeah, well… "